Quick question?

[OBfan]

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Hi,
I'm currently in the middle of my psych rotation and I am really enjoying it. I just wanted to get some advice from anyone out there. How many residency programs are there in the U.S.

What is forensics and what is the day to day like? Why is it that a fellowship in Forensics or Child psych make so much more in income?

Is it difficult for IMG's to match in Psych?
Thanks!

 

[nitemagi]

Yeah, that's actually a bunch of very broad questions. So not so quick.

First read the Psych forum stickies, as they answer a lot of your questions, or give the links to sources that do.

As for Forensics, per my local professor/mentor/former prez of AAPL, Forensic Psych is "The application of psychiatric knowledge to legal questions." Day to day is quite variable. It involves evaluating a variety of legal issues, from criminal responsibility due to insanity, to competency to stand trial, to a load of other issues. Sometimes they write reports for the court who ordered an eval, or they might testify in any kind of case (civil, criminal). The big $$ is in testimony, but even the bigwigs don't testify all that often. All forensic psychiatrists still practice regular ol' psychiatry at least part time, because you lose credibility as an authoritative witness if you don't regularly see patients. Child Forensic Psychiatrists are extraordinarily rare, to the point that you can name your own fees. I mean child psychiatrists in themselves are rare enough, so add in forensics expertise and it's surprisingly scarce. Most of the forensic psychiatrists I've met (which is limited to this town, I admit), have part-time clinical hours in a psych hospital/state unit, part-time eval'ing ppl for the county/city, and do a variety of other things (private practice, specialized centers eval'ing sex offenders, etc.).

It's interesting, and I may consider it down the road.

Best of luck. 🙂

 

[OBfan]

Yeah, that's actually a bunch of very broad questions. So not so quick.

First read the Psych forum stickies, as they answer a lot of your questions, or give the links to sources that do.

As for Forensics, per my local professor/mentor/former prez of AAPL, Forensic Psych is "The application of psychiatric knowledge to legal questions." Day to day is quite variable. It involves evaluating a variety of legal issues, from criminal responsibility due to insanity, to competency to stand trial, to a load of other issues. Sometimes they write reports for the court who ordered an eval, or they might testify in any kind of case (civil, criminal). The big $$ is in testimony, but even the bigwigs don't testify all that often. All forensic psychiatrists still practice regular ol' psychiatry at least part time, because you lose credibility as an authoritative witness if you don't regularly see patients. Child Forensic Psychiatrists are extraordinarily rare, to the point that you can name your own fees. I mean child psychiatrists in themselves are rare enough, so add in forensics expertise and it's surprisingly scarce. Most of the forensic psychiatrists I've met (which is limited to this town, I admit), have part-time clinical hours in a psych hospital/state unit, part-time eval'ing ppl for the county/city, and do a variety of other things (private practice, specialized centers eval'ing sex offenders, etc.).

It's interesting, and I may consider it down the road.

Best of luck. 🙂

Really appreciate the answer! It all sounds incredibly interesting!

 

[Adam_K]

Hi,
I'm currently in the middle of my psych rotation and I am really enjoying it. I just wanted to get some advice from anyone out there. How many residency programs are there in the U.S.

Is it difficult for IMG's to match in Psych?
Thanks!

Here are some stats on psych programs http://www.ama-assn.org/vapp/freida/spcstsc/0,1238,400,00.html

To search them go to http://www.ama-assn.org/vapp/freida/srch/

Difficulty for IMGs is another question. I think that the top 1/3 of programs are off limits to IMGs, because they get plenty of USMD applicants thanks to reputation or location. Another 1/3 programs may take IMGs with the right qualifications such as 1 year of US clinical experience and full ECFMG certification prior to application but probably prefer USMDs. The remaining programs are IMG friendly but are not always in the best location or do not provide the best education or facilities.