Joining Neurology with Psych

There are dual Psych/Neuro residencies available already, psychogirl.

Jackson Memorial Hospital/Jackson Health System Program Miami, Florida Indiana University School of Medicine Program
Tulane University Program
University of Massachusetts Program
New York Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia Campus) Program
New York University School of Medicine Program
Brown University (Butler Hospital) Program
Medical University of South Carolina Program
West Virginia University Program

 

What's the trend with these programs? What are the upsides to having gone through them?

 

I honestly don't know too many people interested in these programs. The scope of practice is pretty different between the two disciplines. As far as I can tell, you really don't have much of an advantage in terms of obtaining a job as either a neurologist or a psychiatrist by having board certification in the other field.

Typically what happens after completing a dual-residency is you end up in a job spending all your time using one specialty or the other. This is a common trend among many dual-residency graduates (e.g. med-peds, IM-EM).

 

Are these easier to get into? Is it awkward applying to both neuro and neuro/psych at the same hospital? Thanks!

 

I'm not sure how hard they are to get into. There are very few of them in the country, so the ratio of applicants may be a lot higher with neuro/psych residencies. But thats about it. Neurology and psych aren't competitive specialties.

And no, I don't think it'd be unusual to apply to both programs at the same hospital. People apply to related programs at the same hospital all the time. I applied to diagnostic radiology and a combined radiology/interventional radiology program at the same hospital. When I interviewed there, the program director simply asked me which I would prefer and why.

 

While there is no real financial incentive to doing both neuro and psych, the fact is that many neurology patients have psychiatric issues as well (many times, frankly, those are the only real issues, whether the patient realizes it or not). So, if you are so inclined, you'd be more comfortable diagnosing and managing both sides of the coin.

 

I think you mean anything besides path + Radio.... Neuro/radio, EM/Rad, ortho/Rad..
That really wouldnt work... you'd have to obtain priviledges to do both at the same hospital, and they'll never give you radiology privileges just to read your own films. You also wouldnt be hanging around the radiology suite just to jump on your own films before the other radiologists see them.

That said, in any field that uses radiology, you'll become proficient at reading your own films. But, you'll have an expert set of eyes to catch anything you miss.

 

FLpk1girl86 intends to do a dual neurosurgery/path residency, so she can interpret her own brain biopsies.

 

Oh yeah? Leave the patients skull open, Scrub out, run down to the cryotome and do the frozen section.... scrub back in 20 minutes later. Finish up.... then run back down to the lab to do the histology.... not a bad gig, all in all.