Advanced Adult Psychiatry

This course offers the student an opportunity to supplement the Core Clerkship in Psychiatry by extended exposure to any of the psychiatric services affiliated with the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and/or the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Students may choose to work clinically in an area of interest in adult psychiatry (such as partial hospital, inpatient, or consultative work) to which they were not exposed in their core clerkship, or they may return to a service similar to one on which they had rotated previously for a more in-depth experience.

Visiting medical students who choose to rotate at The Massachusetts Mental Health Center (MMHC) will have the opportunity to participate in a month-long rotation in the Partial Hospital Program. MMHC is a Harvard Medical School-affiliated community mental health center operated by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. MMHC's Partial Hospital Program is an intensive, group-based outpatient program that aims to stabilize individuals with serious mental illness who are experiencing active and distressing psychiatric symptoms and to assist them in maintaining their lives in the community and setting a path towards a meaningful recovery. The program runs Monday through Friday and consists of two tracks the student may choose from: The Cognitive Behavioral Therapy track, serving individuals with psychotic and major mood disorders; and the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy track, serving those with borderline personality disorder. Students follow several individual patients, serving as primary treater, care coordinator, and advocate, providing both individual psychotherapy and medication treatment. Students also co-lead a range of psychotherapy groups. Direct supervision is provided by an attending psychiatrist, a chief resident, PGY-2 psychiatry residents, and various multi-disciplinary staff members. The rotation has weekly didactic sessions and case conferences to supplement practice-based learning from rounds and individual supervision.

In addition to patient care responsibilities, students will participate in the full range of didactic classes that are ongoing for the core clerkship, including seminars on psychopathology, psychopharmacology, forensic psychiatry, psychodynamic concepts, interviewing, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. With the permission of the course director, qualified students can instead audit didactic courses for PGY-II residents of the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program. Clinical instruction will be from attendings, tutors, and chief residents in the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program.

Community Psychiatry

This elective is offered for students who have had a core psychiatry clerkship and who have a significant interest in community psychiatry, primary care, public health, or socio-economic issues in health care delivery. Students electing this course will have a wide range of experiences at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (MMHC) and at a number of affiliated community sites. These will include: placement at affiliated psychosocial rehabilitation and residential programs; outpatient team meetings; supervised patient evaluations in the MMHC Intake and Evaluation Service; working with the psychiatric service of Boston's Health Care for the Homeless Program; and participation in outpatient medication management clinics. Individual supervision will be supplemented by conferences and directed reading.

Additional Information
For additional information on either of the courses described above, please e-mail the course director:

Michael W. Kahn, M.D.
Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry
Beth israel Deaconess Medical Center
.