Message from Clerkship Director

Here at the Pritzker School of Medicine, students receive didactic and experiential training in psychiatry across all four years of their education. The primary goal of that training is to prepare new physicians across all fields of medicine to face the ubiquitous psychiatric illnesses that they will see in practice. During the first two years of training, they receive lectures on development, neuroscience and its relationship to behavioral disorders, and psychopathology. These are augmented by small group experiences designed to advance their interviewing skills and expose them to patients. Students may elect to perform research during their first summer in our department as part of the summer research program.

The heart of the training that medical students receive is their four weeks required clerkship during the third year. Students have the option of rotating at University of Chicago Hospitals on the consultation-liaison service, at Ingalls Hospital on the University of Chicago’s inpatient psychiatry service, and at Evanston Northshore Hospital on the inpatient psychiatry teaching service. Each of these sites provides supervision by University of Chicago faculty, residents, and fellows. Core goals of the rotation include the diagnostic assessment of psychiatric patients, the oral and written presentation of patients, empathic https://psychiatry.uchicago.edu/education/third-year-psychiatry-clerkship interviewing skills, and an enhanced understanding of treatment in psychiatry. This includes both psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. At the end of the clerkship, students are assessed with both a standard written exam and a live standardized patient exam designed to evaluate their interviewing skills and patient rapport. Didactic sessions, outpatient experiences, and a preceptor group all serve to forward these educational goals.

During the fourth year, we offer a number of electives that provide students with more in-depth experience in a number of areas. For these experiences, we welcome students from outside medical schools. We also provide extensive career guidance for students who elect to pursue psychiatry as their specialty. We see the education of medical students as central to our academic mission and involve them in all aspects of patient care.