University of Iowa
Ease of Communication
Interview Broker is awesome, and makes scheduling super easy. No issues with communication; little coordination required, but every interaction I had with
anyone from the program was very pleasant.
Accommodation & Food
The program paid for a night’s stay at a local hotel – I believe psychiatry was at the Sheraton, and Med/Psych (and Medicine) was at the Marriott. Regardless, the accommodations were nice, and a shuttle to hospital was provided. Dinner options throughout the season rotate through a couple of local restaurants. We had a good resident turnout, from representation from multiple years. Lunch was provided on campus, also.
Interview Day (Schedule, Type of Interview, Unusual Questions, Experiences):
I had a skewed perspective, and can talk/write more about the combined med/psych program than anything else. The med/psych applicants start the day out with the medicine applicants, starting with a light breakfast with coffee, overview of
medicine with the PD and associate PD, tour, and 2-3x 15 minute interviews. Lunch was part of the internal medicine’s noon conference, which was actually quite nice to see, very collegial and interactive. After lunch, we moved over to the Psychiatry part of the day. Even the psych interviews were quite brief (15 min) except with the IM/P PD (Dr. Kijewski, who seems great). I think everyone met with Dr. Black (psych PD), and all of the combined applicants met with several IM/psych director faculty members. Ended with a quick wrap up and program interview about the combined program (somewhat an odd time to do an overview, but that’s okay), finishing around 3:45. For categorical psychiatry, I believe many of the interviews are still short/15 minutes, but the day ended at least an hour or two earlier.
Program Overview:
Given the nature of the interview day for med/psych, we didn’t get a great overview of the psychiatry part of the training. More info is available on their website. We didn’t hear complaints about the program or didactics or call schedule from residents; they seemed happy with it. Call is roughly 4-5x/month for PGY 1-2 and ~2x/month PGY 3-4. Longest on weekends is about 12 hours.
Psychotherapy training can start as early as PGY2, but is generally not required until PGY 3 and 4. They do have the consecutive 12 months of outpatient psych, and residents are expected to carry 3 psychotherapy patients per week. Some opportunities to lead STEPPS groups (BPD group).
For senioring opportunities, PGY4 includes 6 months on a combination of inpatient psych or the CL service. Also, for outpatient psych, everything at the University clinics are staffed with an attending, all the time. On the other hand, residents have a lot more autonomy at the VA, where residents staff generally once per day (unless something urgent comes up). Also on call about once per week for outpatient rotations (I believe?).
Didactics during psychiatry months are protected time. Have a total of about 7 months inpatient psych (at least for combined), including rotations through every psych unit they have (mood disorders, psychotic disorders, geriatric psychiatry, eating disorders, and medicine-psychiatry). 2 months of CL. 1 month inpatient CAP, 1 outpatient CAP. 1 month outpatient neurology. Has a night float coverage service.
Notes about the combined IM/P program:
- All of internal medicine runs on a 4+1 schedule, so the +1 week houses everyone’s continuity clinic including the psych continuity clinic, a bunch of ambulatory medicine rotations, QI project, administrative time and some didactics, etc. Call varies depending on the specific service – highest requirement is the q4 call in the CVICU. In the MICU, both junior and senior residents take overnight call q4. Otherwise at UI IM wards (with 3 teaching services) there is rotating call coming out to about 4-5 nights per months. At the VA medicine wards, all teams admit daily and take call q6 nights, with a covering night float senior. IM/P residents don’t take
overnight call while on medicine.
- During medicine, lots of noon conferences, but it’s protected time, and they even hold your pagers and only highlight your pager number if it’s actually urgent. Also have convenient in-house iphone/phone/texting/paging system.
- During inpatient psych months, have one half day per week at continuity of care clinic (possibly starting PGY2?). Of note, IM/P residents do 8 months medicine and only 4 months of psych in PGY1, so they’re still considered a junior resident during PGY2 (for call schedules, etc). For IM/P, outpatient year starts midway through PGY3, and by PGY5 there is no more (psych) call. No formal chief year for combined residents, though recently started to be able to serve as a categorical chief for psychiatry.
Faculty Achievements & Involvement:
Residents seemed to enjoy the faculty and the level to which the like to teach on the go. Dr. Nisly was pretty excited about running her integrative medicine clinic and was a good proponent for diversity on campus. There’s also opportunities to work in an LGBTQ clinic (their EPIC was adjusted to use not only a patient’s preferred name, but also highlights preferred pronoun and gender. I’m kinda jealous)
Location & Lifestyle:
Iowa City – very reasonable cost of living with a safe environment. Many residents live within walking (or biking) distance to the hospital, but can be 10-20 minutes out with plenty of space if that’s your gig. Low unemployment and great public schools. Fairly low stress. There’s nightlight available, but the whole city seems pretty integrated into the university campus, so not much escaping the undergrad / grad school scene. That said, the city is pretty literate and has some artsy stuff, too.
Salary & Benefits:
Salary starting at 55,400. Other benefits
Benefits | Graduate Medical Education . Health insurance package details actually seem pretty awesome, with 400/person deductible and 0% (behavioral health) coinsurance for a lot of services. 6 weeks maternity/disability leave only after pregnancy; 5 days after an adoption. There's a bit of a walk (or a shuttle ride) from the parking lots.
Program Strengths:
- Med psych unit, even for categorical psych residents (as part of the inpatient medicine months)-
- Structured research training in psychiatry through the research track and/or PSTP
- Friendly residents and faculty, and others in the area (including my shuttle driver!)
- Complementary medicine / integrative medicine clinic
- Residents as teachers medicine elective
- Low cost of living
- Safe area, easy commute with little traffic
Potential Weaknesses:
- Still seem to be building the psychotherapy training, but reportedly improved
- No formal chief year for combined residents, but still help organize the program (but as of recently can now do a categorical psychiatry chief year)
- Somewhat limited breadth of research topics
- Minimal forensics exposure
- Limited (albeit existent) diversity
- Less elective time and opportunities in PGY4 than some places
Overall Impression:
Really enjoyed this program! The residents seemed like a great group of people, everyone got along with each other and liked the faculty as well. Overall seems like very respectable training in a lovely area. The entire institution (department included) was filled with very friendly people, and the surrounding area seemed similarly friendly. With its historically biologic tilt, residents do seem to get sufficient training of the medical neuroscience / biologic psychiatry, but modern enough to seem well-rounded in overall training. Also seemed flexible in having residents get involved with research, but not pushing it if it wasn't desired (aside from a small QI project, I believe).