3rd year electives for someone interested in psychiatry

[TheaterOfTheme]

Hello all,

I am fortunate to have the ability to choose 3 electives in my 3rd year. So far, I am planning on an inpatient neurology and then 2 psychiatry rotations in addition to my core. My core psych rotation is inpatient at a very large psych ER (well known place w/ a residency). I am planning on doing one elective at a state mental hospital and another at a private practice that is connected to a hospital and part inpatient. I am very set on psychiatry, and just wondering if this is a good approach. I mainly want to experience the diversity of the field from academic inpatient, state hospital, and outpatient (my reasoning, at least).

Thanks!

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[Old&InTheWay]

I wish I had had that option, sounds like a great plan. Especially getting some o/p experience with seems a little hard to come by in med school.

Out of curiosity, what do your core 9 or 10 MS3 blocks/months consist of?

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

I wish I had had that option, sounds like a great plan. Especially getting some o/p experience with seems a little hard to come by in med school.

Out of curiosity, what do your core 9 or 10 MS3 blocks/months consist of?

Yeah it definitely is--the o/p part of that one seems a little iffy. It is allegedly once a week (anecdotal from previous students at that site) and the rest of the time is inpatient. But it's worth a shot.
Our core is 2 IM, 2 FM, 1 Surgery, 1 OB-Gyn, 1 Psych, and 1 Peds. It's a DO school so one of the FM rotations is OMM based (which is ridiculous imho lol). Technically the Neuro rotation is a core rotation as well--as it's one part of our core where we can choose from a limited amount of options (more IM and IM subspecialties, surgery subspecialties, or Neuro).

 

[Old&InTheWay]

Another option might be to explore a behavioral health aspect of some other specialty; like perinatal substance use, chronic pelvic pain, pain medicine, psych-onc, etc. I personally think it’s a good idea to get a mix of board exposure and doing what interests you and gets you excited.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

Another option might be to explore a behavioral health aspect of some other specialty; like perinatal substance use, chronic pelvic pain, pain medicine, psych-onc, etc. I personally think it’s a good idea to get a mix of board exposure and doing what interests you and gets you excited.

Yeah I was considering pain medicine as a possibility as well. Thanks for your input!

 

[ridethecliche]

My school has something similar and I chose to do things in PM&R because i was considering that a little and wanted to try some stuff before committing to psych for fourth year electives.

I think you should do something fun during those electives. You have so much time for electives fourth year. I don't see the point of making third year more stressful. Unless it's something that you wouldn't have a chance to do as a fourth year.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

My school has something similar and I chose to do things in PM&R because i was considering that a little and wanted to try some stuff before committing to psych for fourth year electives.

I think you should do something fun during those electives. You have so much time for electives fourth year. I don't see the point of making third year more stressful. Unless it's something that you wouldn't have a chance to do as a fourth year.

I'd be interested in seeing what PM&R is like also--but the psych ones honestly seem more fun to me haha. I'd honestly like to do a genetic medicine rotation--but those are really hard to find and most we have access to only take 4th years.

 

[Celexa]

Yeah I was considering pain medicine as a possibility as well. Thanks for your input!

Pain medicine at my medical school was very procedure focused and not super interesting from a psych perspective. This may vary depending on where you are.

Palliative care is often a good non psych rotation with a lot to offer people interested in psych.

 

[Evidence Based]

If you really are dead set on psych then I actually would use your elective time to explore other related specialties. You'll have your whole career to do psych.
Agree neuro is a great idea, should be required of all M3s imho. I had a neuro clerkship M3 and then did electives in epilepsy and movement disorders, both of which have been relevant to me as an intern already. If you have a chance to do some medicine subspecialties like endocrine, rheum, or oncology (tons of psych overlap with all) those would serve you well. Emergency medicine was also an awesome experience for honing your diagnostic skills and getting your sick/not sick senses tuned.

tl;dr three blocks of psych your third year is probably overkill, take the chance to learn some things you won't have the chance to learn later

 

[ridethecliche]

I'd be interested in seeing what PM&R is like also--but the psych ones honestly seem more fun to me haha. I'd honestly like to do a genetic medicine rotation--but those are really hard to find and most we have access to only take 4th years.

Try finding a pmr doc that does sports and pain. It's pretty interesting and a different angle on something you're interested in.

I'm with evidence based on this one fosho.

 

[whackamole21]

I'll second palliative care. Great choice