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The four-year curriculum is designed to emphasize
the resident's responsibility for psychopharmacological treatment,
psychotherapy, and case management. Clinical experiences foster increasing
responsibility and autonomy of function as training progresses. Whether care
occurs in the emergency room, inpatient unit, or outpatient setting, the
training program offers a clinical sequence with broad-based clinical
opportunities and experiences. Dedicated faculty members provide supervision of
all clinical activities.
Educational Goals and Philosophy
The mission of the UIC Psychiatry Residency
Training Program is to provide high-quality education and training. Our program
aims to train psychiatrists who will become astute diagnosticians with a
comprehensive understanding of human behavior from a variety of perspectives.
Additionally, residents leave with the skills and competence to provide quality
psychiatric care using appropriate modalities.
Our training program is based on the principle
that all residents should have broadly ranged clinical rotations, opportunities
to function in a variety of clinical settings, formal experiences in a wide
range of subspecialty areas, and opportunities to pursue postgraduate
fellowships and research career development. We also keep our house staff
abreast of current trends in psychiatry, particularly with regard to social and
community psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, psychotic disorders, women’s mental
health, and mood and anxiety disorders.
Trainees are encouraged to be curious, to
question and synthesize information, and to take on more responsibility and
function with an increasing degree of independence. The underlying assumption of
the training program is that four years of training in a general psychiatry
program can provide a certain breadth and depth of education and skills. The
education of a psychiatrist only begins during the training years and continues
beyond the residency.
Learning is a life-long process. Education and
training can occur only on the fertile ground of clinical excellence and in an
atmosphere where advancement of knowledge is encouraged. Partnerships and
collegiality between faculty and residents promote an environment where
education flourishes. Our faculty members encourage individual initiative and
motivation, and the program is designed to meet the general as well as specific
needs and interests of individual residents.
As we prepare our residents for a future that
emphasizes developments in the neurosciences, we continue our emphasis on the
in-depth understanding of the psychotherapies.
Please see the links to the left that cover the specific year curriculum and seminars.
Additional Features of the Program
Supervision. Residents have on-site faculty supervision for each clinical assignment throughout the four years. In addition, each PGY-2 resident is assigned an outpatient supervisor for his/her ongoing psychotherapy cases. PGY-3 and 4 residents are assigned individual supervisors for dynamic therapy, cognitive/behavioral psychotherapy and outpatient child & adolescent cases.
Residency Training Committee Meeting.
The residency training director holds a one-hour meeting twice a month that is
open to faculty and residents for the purpose of reviewing curriculum, policies,
clinical sites, and seminars.
Chief Resident's Meeting. The two Chief Residents meet weekly with all the residents to discuss ongoing projects, review current concerns and to convey information. They also serve as the resident liaison to the faculty.
Journal Club. Once a month, residents review a specific scientific paper using evidence based principals and consult with an expert faculty member for discussion. In addition there are journal clubs sponsored by clinical sections within the Department of Psychiatry.
Grand Rounds/Residency Forum. Wednesday
afternoon is devoted to educational meetings, case conferences, forums, and
grand rounds. The series includes outside speakers, faculty speakers, and
clinically oriented sessions organized by residents and service chiefs.
Medical Student Teaching. All residents participate in teaching medical students on each clinical rotation. A course on teaching skills is provided. Residents may also elect to give selected lectures in medical student courses or to teach a small group of first-year and/or second-year medical students as part of the Essentials of Clinical Medicine course.
Research. We encourage residents to do
research. Residents who are interested in a specific research project should
identify faculty with similar interests. Residents with prior research
experience are encouraged to begin linking to faculty members early in their
residency. Although clinical research can be conducted at any time during
residency training, specific time can be allocated in the fourth year. Our
department has been successful in stimulating the research interests of our
residents. Easy access to faculty who can serve as mentors has facilitated this
process.
Retreats. Retreats for residents only and
for residents and faculty together serve to promote professional development and
provide a forum for discussion of resident issues across a broad spectrum of
topics. PGY-1 residents also enjoy a team-building wilderness retreat during
orientation.
Departmental Libraries. The department has
several libraries. The Jack Weinberg library at the Psychiatric Institute
maintains a wide range of psychiatric journals and books, over 400 videotape
titles, has a librarian and four computers for Medline searchers. The Edward E.
Byars library is located at the Neuropsychiatric Institute, where the residents
have their offices. It has a collection of the most-used psychiatric reference
books and texts for the residents’ immediate reference.
webmaster@psych.uic.edu