Inpatient Psychiatry

2 weeks

University of Alberta Students Placement contact: Chelsey Konowalyk   umepsych@ualberta.ca

Visiting Canadian Medical Students: visitingelectives@ualberta.ca

An elective in Inpatient Psychiatry offers students exposure to patients with severe and persistent mental illness. Students will get to work with a multidisciplinary team under the supervision of a psychiatrist. They will get the opportunity to interview and manage patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, treatment of resistant depression, substance use disorders, and personality disorders. Students who have not had their core psychiatry clerkship rotation will have the opportunity to gain more exposure to the field of psychiatry while those who have completed their core psychiatry clerkship rotation may get a better feel for what psychiatry residency may be like in Edmonton.

Completing this elective should:

• help develop interview and communication skills, as well as hone knowledge about diagnostic criteria and the mental status exam
• enable students to learn the biopsychosocial model of formulation and treatment of psychiatric patients
• engage students to collaborate with the multidisciplinary team and advocate for disadvantaged and stigmatized patients

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

• undergraduate medical students in Canadian institutions
• for students from 3 or 4 year programs who have an interest in pursuing psychiatry in residency
• submission of requests for electives at least 3 months in advance of the requested elective date

Priority policy: The availability of this elective will be dependent on whether preceptors have space to accommodate additional learners given core psychiatry medical students and residents at the University of Alberta may also be on rotation. Please email umepsych@ualberta.ca or visitingelectives@ualberta.ca as noted above to inquire about availability.