R-4 Didactics

The PGY-4 curriculum consists of two main areas of emphasis: Preparation for Future Practice, and Advanced Topics in Psychiatry.

I. Preparation for Future Practice
As residents enter the final phase of their training, focusing on one's early post-residency career is both logical and practical. Preparation for the ABPN Board Examination Part I (the "written boards"), which as of 2008 can be taken in June, just prior to graduation from residency, in one area of emphasis. UW psychiatrists and neurologists, with both expertise in their field and a commitment to teaching inherent in an academic medical center, help the residents review for the board exam in April and May of each year.

Other areas of Preparation for Future Practice typically include an introduction to various post-residency practice settings (private practice, academic medical center, fellowship, community psychiatry, locum tenens, consult liaison, primary care consults, etc.), Psychiatry Leadership Conference, Professionalism, Physician Impairment, and Contract Negotiation.

To prepare residents for continued self-directed learning after residency, the PGY-4 curriculum includes a scholarly project and monthly journal club. The scholarly project requires each resident to generate a departmental conference presentation and written report (e.g. original research article, review chapter, case report, clinical practice improvement/CQI project report, etc.). This project allows the resident to focus in great detail on a particular area of interest within psychiatry relevant to the resident's future career. In the monthly journal club, faculty facilitators help residents to further develop skills in critical appraisal of current literature, and to cultivate a habit of lifelong learning.

II. Advanced Topics in Psychiatry

The first three years of psychiatry didactics will have given residents a broad exposure to the essential areas of psychiatry.

The PGY-4 year offers an excellent opportunity to explore specialized and advanced topics in greater depth and detail. The Advanced Topics in Psychiatry didactics include Advanced Psychopharmacology, Forensics, Advanced Psychotherapy techniques, Advanced Non-Pharmacologic treatments, Great Minds of Psychiatry, Advanced Teaching Techniques, and other miscellaneous topics requested by the particular PGY-4 class.

One advantage to the PGY-4 Curriculum flexibility to accommodate resident interests. Each year, the PGY-4s play a large role in shaping and directing the content and structure of the didactics.

Christopher Bundy, M.D., MPH

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Psychiatry Residency Training Program
1959 NE Pacific Street, Box 356560
Seattle, WA 98195-6560
206-543-6577
email: psychres@u.washington.edu