
General Psychiatry Residency Program Overview: Intern Year
The Intern Year
Intern year is all about learning to function as a doctor. Six months of the year are spent in non-psychiatric training, including two months on a busy inpatient medicine service, two months on inpatient or consult neurology, one month of outpatient medicine and one month of emergency medicine in a busy Level 1 Trauma Center. In all of these off-service rotations, psychiatry interns operate as integral and respected members of the team.
The other six months of year are spent on psychiatry rotations, which provide interns a solid foundation in the management of acute and serious psychiatric conditions. These rotations are divided across the program’s 3 flagship hospitals and each provide unique experiences and patient populations:
- Inpatient behavioral health unit at Brooke Army Medical Center (2 months)—exposure to the unique aspects of military psychiatry, introductory training in psychotherapy.
- Inpatient psychiatric unit at Audie L. Murphy VA hospital (2 months)—exposure to serious mental illness, substance use disorders, PTSD
- Inpatient psychiatric unit at University Hospital—exposure to serious mental illness among vulnerable populations
- Emergency psychiatry at VA hospital (1 month)—triage of acute psychiatric crises
Timeline of Intern Year