Learning Objectives

Course Description  

The Psychiatry rotation is a required four-week clinical rotation for clinical trunk students at the University of Michigan. Students learn to recognize and treat psychiatric disorders. They spend a significant amount of time interviewing patients, allowing them to refine their communication skills that are important for becoming effective physicians. We emphasize neuroscience and teaching specific communication skills in the Psychiatry rotation. The basic science content includes a two-hour session Basic Science Correlation at the beginning of the rotation on Neurotransmission and Psychopharmacology. The communication skills sessions will focus on communication challenges in the healthcare environment, particularly agitation and verbal de-escalation.

The institutional objectives can be found here.

Learning outcomes have been developed for general psychiatric skills and for selected diagnoses and clinical settings. By the end of the psychiatry clerkship, the student will be expected to be able to master these

General Psychiatric Skills:

Patient Care

  1. Perform a complete mental status examination (PC-hp)
  2. Obtain an age and gender-appropriate psychiatric history (PC-hp)
  3. Assess suicidal and homicidal ideation, across lifespan (PC-cr)
  4. Apply differential diagnosis skills using specific history and physical exam findings (PC-cr)
  5. Select appropriate diagnostic and laboratory tests and interpret results (PC-cr, PC-mp)
  6. Select appropriate treatment (medication and/or therapy) and, if necessary, refer to specialty care (PC-mp)

Medical Knowledge

  1. Apply knowledge and principles of psychiatric diseases to clinical patients (MK-bs)
  2. Recognize that the most common mental disorders (depression, anxiety, and substance abuse) are often co- morbid with other chronic diseases and impact course, severity, and clinical outcome. (MK-bs)
  3. Identify medications used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders and describe their proposed mechanisms of action and common side effects. (MK-bs)
  4. Outline the legal requirements of civil commitment and capacity evaluations. (MK-bs)

Communication

  1. Demonstrate communication with patients and families using sensitive, non-judgmental language (C-pf)
  2. Present appropriate psychiatric history to the care team (C-ch)
  3. Document and maintain an accurate medical record. (C-mr)

Professionalism

  1. Explain the confidentiality requirements of psychiatric diagnoses (PR-ra)
  2. Recognize the emotional impact of illness on patients and families from diverse backgrounds and provide compassionate care (PR-cd)

Leadership, Teamwork & Interprofessionalism

  1. Demonstrate the ability to work with other health disciplines- NP, OT/PT, SW, nursing, pharmacy (LTI-ic)
  2. Demonstrate the ability to manage one’s own role on a multidisciplinary team (LTI-lm)

Systems-based Practice

  1. Understand how the various levels of psychiatric care such as Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES), Inpatient Psychiatry, Partial Hospital Program, and outpatient treatment are integrated and which level of care is appropriate for specific patients. (SBP-ws)

Practice-based Learning & Improvement

  1. Develop skills for enhancing treatment adherence. (PBLI-sl)
  2. Demonstrate the ability to use video technology in patient care (PBLI-et)

Critical Thinking & Discovery

N/A