For students interested in exploring psychiatry beyond the core clinical clerkship, we offer several advanced clinical electives.

PS 503M.1 Advanced Adult Psychiatry

Course directors:
Dr. Marta Herschkopf (mherschk@bidmc.harvard.edu)
Dr. Harish Pudukodu (hpudukod@bidmc.harvard.edu)

This course offers the student an opportunity for extended exposure to clinical psychiatry at BIDMC, either on the inpatient psychiatric unit or the consultation-liaison service (with potential for a focus on emergency room psychiatry).

Deaconess 4 is a general inpatient psychiatric unit for patients with a variety of diagnoses (mood, psychotic, and trauma-related disorders) referred from local universities, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, and the general community. Care is highly multidisciplinary and includes medication management, psychosocial interventions, family work, potential for treatment with electroconvulsive therapy, and more. The Consultation-Liaison service sees patients in the emergency room and on medical/surgical units with acute psychiatric needs. Common cases include assessment/management of delirium, dementia, primary mood disorders, decisional capacity assessments, management of psychosis, eating disorders, substance abuse, and more.

The student will be initially paired with a PGY1/PGY2 resident, with the expectation that they will take on more responsibility and work more directly with attendings as the elective progresses and they demonstrate competency. Students have the option to participate in BIDMC Harvard Psychiatry PGY2 residency didactics, as well as other didactic/clinical activities tailored to their interests. Wednesdays are often protected for didactics and scholarly work. The course director will meet with the student prior to the rotation to discuss tailoring the elective to their interests. Clinical instruction will be from attendings, fellows, and residents. There is no call requirement (evening calls in the emergency room are an option for those who are interested).

PS 504M.5 Addiction Psychiatry

Course director:
Dr. Kevin Hill (khill1@bidmc.harvard.edu)

In this fast-paced elective, students will see inpatients on medical floors who have substance use disorders and co-occurring medical conditions. Students will also observe outpatient addiction psychiatry visits. An emphasis will be placed on learning appropriate pharmacotherapies and behavioral interventions for substance use disorders. Interested students may also participate in ongoing clinical research within the Division of Addiction Psychiatry. Students may take non-overnight call if desired and can also arrange to see new psychiatric evaluations in the Emergency department.

PS 513M.5 Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral/Cognitive Neurology

Course director:
Dr. Yelu Zhang (yzhang22@bidmc.harvard.edu)

In the 1970s, Norman Geschwind at Harvard Medical School coined the term "behavioral neurology" to describe studies around the behavioral and cognitive manifestations of underlying brain disease. Over the past decades, the field behavioral neurology & neuropsychiatry has advanced significantly, now being recognized as a single subspecialty that promotes collaboration in areas of research, clinical care, and education. The neuropsychiatry and behavioral/cognitive neurology elective at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will provide learners with an enriching opportunity to learn about complex neuropsychiatric syndromes and pathophysiology through a diverse range of experiences. The course will consist of clinical experiences in the outpatient cognitive neurology unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The student will work with residents, fellows, and faculty from both neurology and psychiatry, as well as other multidisciplinary team members including social work, nursing, neuropsychology, and community resource specialists in different subspecialty clinics, including that focused on conditions related to executive function, memory/dementia, traumatic brain injury, mood disorders, psychosis, and neurodevelopmental conditions. There is no call involved. Students are welcome to attend Wednesday afternoon grand rounds offered by the department of cognitive neurology and weekly supervision/teaching sessions with the course director. Students will receive 1 day a week of scholarly time to participate in a scholarly project, including but not limited to, performing a mini-literature review or scholarly presentation on an area of their interest.

PS 525M.9 Community Psychiatry

Course director:
Dr. Marisol Segundo (msegundo@mass.gov)

This elective is offered for students who have a significant interest in community psychiatry, primary care, public health, or socio-economic issues in health care delivery. Students electing this course will have a wide range of experiences at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (MMHC). These will include: placement at MMHC RAFT (Rapid Access to Flexible Treatment), an outpatient program for patients with severe and persistent mental illness; outpatient team meetings; supervised patient evaluations in the MMHC Intake and Evaluation Service. Individual supervision will be supplemented by conferences and directed reading. There is no night call.