Training Program Curriculum

Education and Curriculum

Over the course of the combined 5 years of residency, you can expect to rotate through a broad range of inpatient and outpatient settings, including numerous integrated Internal Medicine and Psychiatry experiences.

Internship: During the 18 month internship, residents will alternate every three months between internal medicine and psychiatry rotations. Interns also start a weekly internal medicine continuity clinic, where they will care for a panel of patients in a longitudinal setting for the duration of their 5 years in residency.

Year 2: Residents continue to alternate every three months and can begin to customize their rotations towards their clinical interests. In addition to their weekly internal medicine clinic, residents begin alternating this clinic with an integrated internal medicine and psychiatry clinic caring for homeless veterans (HPACT Clinic*) at the VA.

Year 3: Similar to year 2, medicine and psychiatry rotations alternate every 3 months. The internal medicine weekly continuity clinic is alternated weekly with an elective clinic to allow for a clinic experience more towards the any clinical interests. Options include an integrated IM/Psych Sickle Cell Clinic*, HIV Psychiatry Clinic (co-located in the infectious disease clinic for collaborative care), Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic, Behavioral Medicine/Chronic Pain Clinic* and Women’s Reproductive Behavioral Health Clinic.

Year 4 and 5: Residents will spend the first six months of their fourth year doing internal medicine rotations. Residents will continue to have an outpatient medicine clinic that will alternate weekly with an elective clinic (same as those listed under Year 3). The second half of the year residents will begin 12 continuous months of outpatient psychiatry, which will continue into the fifth year of training. Core outpatient clinics include the General Adult Psychiatry Clinic, HPACT Clinic* and the Behavioral Medicine/Chronic Pain Clinic*. This also includes 6 months of having a child and adolescent psychiatry clinic and 6 months of general outpatient psychiatry at the local community mental health center. Longitudinal internal medicine clinic is also continued during this year. In addition to these clinics, residents are offered a wide variety of options for elective psychiatry clinics including Women’s Reproductive Behavioral Health, Sleep and Anxiety Clinic, University Counseling and Psychiatry Services (CAPS), VA Substance Treatment and Recovery (STAR), HIV Psychiatry, Integrated Sickle Cell Clinic, Pain Rehabilitation, College of Charleston outpatient psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry clinic and Brain Stimulation Outpatient consults. Residents receive weekly supervision in psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychopharmacology. Residents may also choose to apply for the Diversity in Addiction Research Training (DART) program, which allows for protected time and funding during the outpatient year to carry out a research project (click here for more information regarding DART).

After concluding the year of psychotherapy (finishing in December of the 5th year), residents will finish their training with six months of internal medicine electives, targeted towards career goals following residency. During these final 6 months they will continue to alternate their continuity internal medicine clinic and an elective psychiatry clinic of their choosing.

*indicates clinic supervised by combined internal medicine and psychiatry faculty.

HPACT Clinic supervised by Dr. Elizabeth Call
Behavioral Medicine/Chronic Pain Clinic supervised by Dr. Allison Smith
Sickle Cell Clinic supervised by Dr. Temeia Martin

Didactics

Internal medicine didactics include morning report three days a week, weekly grand rounds, and weekly academic half days (protected time). Psychiatry didactics during the first three years include weekly seminars. During the year (PGY4 and 5) of outpatient psychiatry residents have two half-days of seminars. Topics include psychopharmacology, psychiatric diagnosis and management, and psychotherapy (including cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy). All IM/Psych residents attend a weekly, resident run, IM/Psych noon conference. These noon conferences include case reports led by residents, monthly journal club, board review, and also serve as a weekly meeting to discuss IM/Psych business and any questions about progress, current rotations, etc.

Electives

In addition to general internal medicine and psychiatry rotations, IM/psych residents have opportunities to explore their interests through a variety of electives in both psychiatry and internal medicine.

Psychiatry electives include: brain stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy, vagal nerve stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation) – offered as a month rotation or consult clinic, forensic psychiatry, women’s reproductive psychiatry, sleep and anxiety clinic, University counseling and Psychiatry Services (CAPS), VA substance use clinic, HIV psychiatry, Integrated Sickle Cell clinic, Pain Rehabilitation, and College of Charleston outpatient psychiatry, among several others.

Internal medicine electives include all internal medicine subspecialties (MUSC supports fellowships in all specialties), palliative care, dermatology, orthopedics, research and numerous others. Residents also have the option to participate in a monthly integrated clinic at the CARES free clinic, during which they work with other IM/Psych residents, faculty and students interested in integrated practice.

Scholarly Activity/Research

As part of the internal medicine and psychiatry curriculums, all residents are expected to participate in scholarly activity, including a quality improvement project. Scholarly activity is highly encouraged and supported, which includes original research, case presentations, journal publications, etc. Resources for scholarly activity include educational days to present at conferences through both the internal medicine and psychiatry departments, as well as funding through each department for travel, room costs, registration fees, etc. Funding is also available through a book fund provided by the psychiatry department (can also be used for educational resources such as books, question banks, etc.)

Residents are also able to apply for the DART (Diversity in Addiction Research Training) research track - if accepted they are given protected time both in the form of elective months as well as protected half-days during the outpatient year to complete a research project of their choice with a research mentor. Recent IM/Psych graduates of the DART program have included Dr. Jennifer Jones, Dr. Benjamin Kalivas, and Dr. Sarah Oros.

Mentorship

Residents are paired with a longitudinal attending mentor based on their clinical interests to provide guidance over the course of their residency. They are also paired with a resident mentor who can help with the transition into residency, provide feedback on rotations, and otherwise give advice with general issues during their time in residency.

Professional Society

Residents are strongly encouraged to join the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry. Attendance at the annual conference in the fall is also strongly encouraged.