Med/Psych

[Horners]

Hey guys,

I like psych and medicine (IM and FM) I’m really hoping I can get some of these questions answered by people in the program or by graduates themselves.

1) how competitive generally are these programs?

2) What do you primarily practice?

3) what added benefit/opportunities (if any at all) would you say this combined program helped you with?

4) Did you do any fellowships?

5) is it possible to practice both?

Thank you


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[AlmostDrRachel]

Hey guys,

I like psych and medicine (IM and FM) I’m really hoping I can get some of these questions answered by people in the program or by graduates themselves.

1) how competitive generally are these programs?

2) What do you primarily practice?

3) what added benefit/opportunities (if any at all) would you say this combined program helped you with?

4) Did you do any fellowships?

5) is it possible to practice both?

Thank you
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Some of these programs are more competitive than others. If you're talking big names like Emory and Duke, you're talking very competitive. The other issue is there are very few programs and the number of applications seem to be rising.

I am just finishing my fifth and final year and signed a contract to both medicine and psychiatry 50/50 with some degree of integration of the two in the hospital setting. Most people who graduated before me have been able to practice both in some fashion, but tend to practice psych more.

You are a huge resource to any medicine department, you are comfortable with just about every type of patient and there is not a setting in the world where having some psychiatric training isn't helpful. Be it in an emergency room or on an airplane.

You can do fellowships, most people don't.

Now, I have nothing but good things to say about doing med/psych, but keep in mind if your primary interested is in psych, this is a wayyyy harder residency than psych even if it only one extra year.

Best of luck to you.

Also, if you're serious about it, check out the AMP website. A lot of students attend the conference in the fall.

 

[Shufflin]

My friend applied to Med/Psych programs and at the interviews the interviewers tried to talk her out of doing it.

Why you may ask?

Invariably people end up doing one or the other.

 

[hallowmann]

My friend applied to Med/Psych programs and at the interviews the interviewers tried to talk her out of doing it.

Why you may ask?

Invariably people end up doing one or the other.

To be fair, that's a common method interviewers use to weed out people that "just can't decide" from people who actually want to do combined training and have given it some thought. It was phrased once to me by PDs that one of the worst things for a combined program, second only to losing a resident completely, is losing a resident to one field or the other. Meaning that 1-2 yrs in residents, who haven't thought it through realize they really just wanted to do one, and then ultimately the program has to work them into that specific program and out of the combined one.

For more information on combined training, as Rachel mentioned above, check out the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry website and consider going to the annual meeting in Oct in Chicago.

 

[Shufflin]

To be fair, that's a common method interviewers use to weed out people that "just can't decide" from people who actually want to do combined training and have given it some thought. It was phrased once to me by PDs that one of the worst things for a combined program, second only to losing a resident completely, is losing a resident to one field or the other. Meaning that 1-2 yrs in residents, who haven't thought it through realize they really just wanted to do one, and then ultimately the program has to work them into that specific program and out of the combined one.

For more information on combined training, as Rachel mentioned above, check out the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry website and consider going to the annual meeting in Oct in Chicago.

makes sense

 

[michaelrack]

5) is it possible to practice both?

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yes. Although I don't have much time to do general IM as Chief of Psychiatry at Panola Medical Center (Batesville MS), I do supervise the medical NP who does the medical H and P on psych patients, and who provides for their general medical care. Time permitting, I take care of some of the psych patient's medical issues myself.

 

[hallowmann]

yes. Although I don't have much time to do general IM as Chief of Psychiatry at Panola Medical Center (Batesville MS), I do supervise the medical NP who does the medical H and P on psych patients, and who provides for their general medical care. Time permitting, I take care of some of the psych patient's medical issues myself.

I think its difficult to not "practice" both just by virtue of you having the training. Even in a clearly defined primarily psychiatric job that may look to an outsider like you're only doing Psych, you will be using aspects of your training to provide better care to your patients. This is at least what I've heard from graduates of combined programs.

A lot of people also work is jobs that incorporate both though, but it takes more effort to find and shape those jobs, because much of it is driven by your own desires. There's plenty of IM/FM or psych specific jobs already set up for grads to walk into, but if that clearly incorporates both, they usually need to make it themselves.