Description

You are assigned to the consultation service at Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester. Your immediate supervisor is the staff psychiatrist assigned to that service at the time of the elective.

Specific goals

1. Review the basic principles of general psychiatry
2. Improve skills in establishing patient rapport, conducting psychiatric interviews and making a diagnostic formulation
3. Examine the role of a psychiatric consultant, defining the patient's emotional response and its interaction with their medical illness
4. Gain experience in the management of both chronically mentally ill patients and acutely disturbed patients in the general hospital setting

Activity outline

You respond to consultation requests in rotation with the resident at Mayo Clinic Hospital, Saint Marys Campus. At Mayo Clinic Hospital, Methodist Campus, you respond as assigned by the staff physician. Discussion and review of each consultation occurs every morning with a staff psychiatrist. You are responsible for following patients as needed during their hospital stays.

In addition, during the Saint Marys campus rotation, you can accompany residents during evaluations requested by the emergency room. During the Methodist campus rotation, you can accompany staff physicians in their evaluations of emergency consultations in the Mayo Clinic building.

Each week you have a one-hour session of individual supervision with the clerkship director.

Method of evaluation

Toward the end of the elective, students conduct live patient interviews while being observed and have the opportunity to receive feedback about their interviewing styles. The staff psychiatrist and clerkship director also provide a performance review at the end of the elective.