OHSU psychiatry residency strength

[bio-Psych-social]

Hello SDN,

I've searched basically every thread on here about OHSU psych and there's been no really substantial information about this program on SDN since the mid to late 2010's. It astounds me how little there is about the psych programs in general (even on the ERAS megathreads).

I would appreciate any and all advice about this program. From what I've garnered the program has a strong community focus and has recently undergone resident driven changes to the curriculum to allow more child exposure in PGY-2. The program seems to be on the heavier side of call and a slight VA focus with 5 months at the VA between PGY1/2.

They have also built the new unity inpatient unit in 2017 that has both adult and child. Has anyone heard about the relative strength of their psychotherapy training?Would this be a good place to train in child? Didactic quality? Is this programs call considered heavier than normal? Lastly, is this a well-rounded program that you believe produces strong psychiatrists when compared against other programs such as MUSC or UTSW? I know this is a lot of questions but anything you know would be appreciated by both me and future prospective residents in years to come. Thank you for your time!

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[comp1]

Haven't been there since 2010, but it sure was beautiful. I think it's hard to get program specific feedback here, at least outside of the East Coast where there are always so many comments.

 

[mistafab]

Besides getting the data directly from current or recent residents, it’s hard to get a good read on the quality of a training program.

The only other real barometer somewhat correlated with training strength is academic power. In terms of that, MUSC and UTSW are bigger names in the psych world. In terms of psychotherapy, UTSW is well known to have very strong psychodynamic influence - one may describe it as militantly so. Outside of NY/ east coast, Im not sure there’s stronger psychodynamic training in a program than UTSW. MUSC’s department culture top down is not to have “resident run” services. Whether that’s a blessing, or just means training is weak, you’ll have to ask current/former residents.

Any specific details about call or heaviness of workload and program culture you’re going to have to figure out on the trail if you can’t find it online. Good luck.

These are also in completely different cities that offer different lifestyles, so there’s that too.

 

[MedJosh]

I have first hand experience with the OHSU Psychiatry program and it has limitations in the variety of training sites. Unity (the main psych hospital) is a homeless shelter run at the cost of a hospital with NPs that run everything. All stigma about mental health is reinforced at this training site. The VA is ok, but a majority of your training will be at Unity with limited outpatient opportunities. If you have ties to Oregon, you can make it work, but otherwise I would find another place to train because Portland sucks.