Block leader: Dr. Egol
Block Length: 2 weeks
Psychiatry is a short and interesting block. Because it is so short, this block is fairly fast-paced. However, most students are well-prepared for this course by taking undergraduate courses in psychology or studying for the MCAT. The content is not very challenging, so you likely won’t have to spend a lot of time studying outside of class. Outside resources are very helpful for pharmacology in this block, so be sure to take advantage of them. The block flies by very quickly.
There are four components to your grade in this course. These include a final examination (40%), participation in small groups (10%), patient interviews (10%), and two psychiatry patient interview write-ups (one practice and one worth 40% of your grade). The final exam is a Brightspace faculty-written exam.
Most of the material is learned in didactic lectures. The small group sessions provide an overview of the key points from each lecture. These are a great opportunities to practice creating a differential diagnosis and to review treatment options. Additionally, three afternoons will be spent interviewing patients, in addition to optional other interview sessions if you would like. This is an opportunity to practice your psychiatry interviewing skills and perform a mental status exam. It is also really meaningful to hear the actual experience of these patients and the ways in which their conditions have impacted their lives. This was our first time interviewing non-standardized patients as part of the medical school curriculum. You are not expected to be perfect on this, just to do your best. These patients have actual psychologists and psychiatrists so get their story but it is not appropriate to dive deeper into traumatic experiences. You will be supervised by a psychiatrist who will likely ask additional questions of the patient at the end that you missed (don’t worry about it).
Lecture - The lectures are a good way to learn the material, but contain a lot of information that is not important at the M1 level. These lectures will give you a deeper understanding of the material and prepare you for rotations and actual practice, but it can be hard to figure out what you need to pull away from them for your STEP exam. If you find the lecture to be overwhelming, Boards & Beyond provides all the information that you will need to know for the exam in a condensed format. However, as your final for this class is in-house it is important not to ignore lectures altogether.
Small Groups - Small groups will give you the opportunity to learn from actual cases. There is prework for these sessions that you shouldn’t forget about! Be sure to participate and pay attention - these review key information for the exams. If you feel like it take a look at the handout ahead of time, read through it, and try to answer the questions before coming to the session.
Patient Interviews - you will be placed in teams of five and will each have the opportunity to perform a psychiatry patient interview. Be confident in the format of the psychiatry interview, required components, and mental status exam before your interview. You will be provided with a psych interview template in Brightspace that you can use to follow along during the interview. You will interview the patient for 30 minutes and then receive feedback from your team and preceptor. We did not have to complete a write-up on these interviews, so you can focus more on the flow of the interview and connecting with the patient.
Recorded Interviews and Write-Ups - you will watch two psychiatry interviews (one in person and one recorded) and complete a psych H&P for each. You will be provided with a psych note example on Brightspace that you can use, but please know that this note contains too much detail for your current abilities and that your note should end with the mental status examination.
Final Exams - Prepare for the final exams by attending the review session and reviewing First Aid. It is also helpful to review the cases covered in small groups. Both exams will ask you to diagnose patients based on a case vignette and know the treatment options. You will also have to know other foundational knowledge such as personality disorders and defense mechanisms. Be sure to know the psychiatry medications and pay attention to the review session. The Brightspace exam will contain questions relevant to the lecture slides and you will be okay as long as you know the content from the review session well.
Boards & Beyond - If it works for you, you can watch all the psychiatry videos by the end of the block. It is helpful to watch the relevant videos before each lecture, but make sure to watch them before the small group on the same topic.
First Aid & Anki - Many students find First Aid to be especially useful and high-yield for the psychiatry block. You can annotate the relevant sections as you listen to lectures or use this to review key topics at the end of the day. You should un-suspend Anki cards as you are in lecture, studying First Aid or watching Boards & Beyond and Sketchy videos. Anki doesn’t work for everyone, so only use this if you find it helpful.
Sketchy Pharm - watch the relevant videos on drugs that you will learn during this block. There is not a lot of formal teaching on psychiatry drugs in the course, so it is essential that you learn these drugs on your own. If you don’t like Sketchy, First Aid and Boards & Beyond also contain a summary of the relevant medications (but you should probably learn to love Sketchy).
Other Websites - if you are a visual learner and want a better understanding of drug mechanisms then you can use Speed Pharmacology on Youtube.
Last updated March 2024 by Laura Geldmaker