About Us

	Psychiatry Clinical Opportunities
Home Supervision Lectures On Call Duties Clinical Rotations	UCSD Medical Center UCSD Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Services UCSD Eating Disorders Program UCSD Consultation Liaison Service (C/L) UCSD Outpatient Psychiatric Services UCSD Senior Behavioral Health Unit UC San Diego Medical Center, is a modern 440-bed full-service teaching and research facility built in 1963 and renovated in 1993. The medical center is located in the Hillcrest area of San Diego, about twenty minutes by car from the main UCSD campus in La Jolla. *UCSD Medical Center, Inpatient Psychiatric Unit* Also called "Neuropsychiatry of Behavioral Medicine Unit (NBMU)”, UCSD Medical Center is a modern 440-bed full-service teaching and research facility built in 1963 and renovated in 1993. The medical center is located in the Hillcrest area of San Diego, about twenty minutes by car from the main UCSD campus in La Jolla. The Psychiatry Unit is an 18-bed, acute care psychiatric service that is staffed by a full-time attending physician, chief resident, 3 junior residents, psychology and social work trainees, occupational therapist, medical students, psychiatric R.N.'s and L.V.N.'s, and social workers. The unit emphasizes use of treatment teams, family therapy, and a milieu approach in addition to incorporating state-of-the-art psychopharmacologic therapy, supportive psychotherapy techniques, and electroconvulsive treatment (ECT). Selected patients also participate in research protocols that are designed to investigate the psychophysiology, neuropsychology and neurobiology of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. The patients' primary psychiatric physicians are PGY-1 and 2 residents who coordinate all aspects of patient care with the help of the treatment team. *UCSD Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services (CAPS)* PGY2 residents have a required full-time rotation of 2 months duration in the PG-II year training at this JCAHO accredited facility. UCSD Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services (CAPS) is a 28-bed inpatient service that was transferred under contract to UCSD From the County of San Diego. The hospital includes a 12-14-bed acute care facility for adolescents and a 12-14 bed short-term facility for children. It is located 10 miles from the primary site of training. Treatment approaches include individual and group psychotherapy, behavior modification, therapeutic community, psychopharmacology and family therapy. The residents receive a minimum of 1 hour of individual supervision weekly from their unit medical director in addition to their other clinical supervision and didactics. Residents attend case conferences, seminars and team meetings throughout the rotation. In addition, residents may elect to follow additional child/adolescent outpatients at St. Vincent de Paul and/or Children’s Hospital during PGY3 and PGY4. *The UCSD Consultation Liaison Service (C/L)* This service consists of a full-time faculty, and a PGY-2 resident who rotates on this service for 1-2 months. PGY-1, 2, and 3 residents provide nighttime and weekend coverage for the CL service with supervision offered by the directors of the program. Residents are required to meet one hour a week with the C/L supervisor. *UCSD Outpatient Psychiatric Services* (OPD) Located at the UCSD Medical Center Campus and providing over 25,000 patient visits per year, the OPD is the Departments major site for teaching ambulatory psychiatry. Part of the clinic serves as an outpatient "private practice" model for our training program. The clinic also provides services for county-funded patients. Clinic staff consists of attending physicians, residents, psychiatry and non-psychiatry medical students, social workers, psychologists, MFCC interns, and psychology trainees. Treatment modalities include individual, couples, family and group psychotherapy--both dynamic and behavioral--and medication treatment. Selected patients participate in psychopharmacology research and innovative "biologically informed psychotherapies." PGY-3 residents spend their entire year based at the OPD where they function as outpatient psychiatrists. In addition, PGY-2 and PGY-4 residents follow selected patients. This provides the potential of a three-year longitudinal experience in psychotherapy. PGY-3 residents may also elect to spend up to two half-days of their outpatient experience on at St. Vincent de Paul. Many residents also elect to participate on one or more of the clinics specialty programs: dual diagnosis, mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive program, clinical trials, and others. *St. Vincent de Paul Community Village (SVDP)* An innovative, exciting and “feel-good” elective rotation for PGY3 residents who may spend up to one-day weekly rotation of SVDP during their outpatient year, this unique setting is the primary training site for the UCSD Combined Family Medicine and Psychiatry Residency Training Program. St. Vincent de Paul Village is a world-renowned program of comprehensive services to the San Diego homeless community. Founded in 1987, the Village Medical and Mental Health clinic provides free health care to uninsured, homeless persons. It serves, as its first priority, the 865+ persons residing in the Village (homeless persons and families entering the recovery program of SVDP may live there for up to 2 years) next, the thousands of homeless on the street; and, finally the local poor-but-housed (uninsured) as the final priority. On an average half-day shift, residents may evaluate 1-2 new patients and see another 2-4 patients for return or follow-up visits. Senior Behavioral Unit The UCSD Senior Behavioral Health Program consist of three components: the 14 bed inpatient unit, this state-of-the-art environment for the treatment of older patients with psychiatric and medical illnesses is located at the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest, two outpatient clinics, and a community consultation service. Some of the features of the inpatient unit include therapeutic lighting, a continuous walking path, purposeful use of color to cue patients and help compensate for visual deficits and decreased visuospatial abilities, and carefully selected artwork that refutes inaccurate, negative beliefs about aging. Patients are evaluated and treated by a multi-disciplinary team that includes board-certified geriatric psychiatrists, geriatric internal medicine specialists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, registered dietitians, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. About half of the patients admitted to the inpatient unit receive treatment for depression and anxiety disorders and the other half receive treatment for behavioral and psychological symptoms associated with dementia. The average daily census hovers around 12 and the average length of stay is about 14 days. UCSD Eating Disorders Program The Department of Psychiatry at UCSD is proud to announce the newly established intensive outpatient eating disorder program at UCSD offers a rotation for third or fourth year residents which allows them the opportunity to receive specialized training in the assessment and treatment of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Treatment is multidisciplinary and may involve combinations of individual, group, family, and couples psychotherapy. The resident will carry a caseload of individual eating disorder clients and co-lead treatment groups throughout the rotation. This will include the coordination of appropriate care for each patient. VA MEDICAL CENTER The VA Medical Center is an 811-bed facility located on the main campus of UCSD in La Jolla. It is one of the most modern, best-equipped VA hospitals in the country. The professional staff consists almost entirely of full-time members of the UCSD faculty, and the Chief of Staff is an Associate Dean in the School of Medicine. *San Diego Veterans Administration General Adult Inpatient Unit (2 South)* The General Adult Inpatient Unit, also called 2 South, is a 33-bed inpatient psychiatric unit that is staffed by 3 full-time attending physicians, 2-3 senior residents, up to 6 junior residents, medical students, psychiatric R.N.'s and L.V.N.'s, occupational therapists, social workers, and psychiatric pharmacists. Patients receive comprehensive medical and psychiatric assessments, crisis intervention, psychopharmacologic management, ECT, supportive psychotherapy, and group therapy with PGY-1 and 2 residents serving as their primary psychiatric physician. *Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program (ADTP)* The ADTP is a 29-bed inpatient alcohol and drug treatment program based at the San Diego VAMC. 2 attending physicians, a senior resident, 2 PGY 2 residents, 2 medical student, substance abuse counselors, nurses and social workers, staff the unit. UC San Diego's nationally known Alcohol Research Program and Dual Diagnosis Program base much of its research out of the ADTP. Patients receive complete medical and psychiatric care as well as the most up-to-date treatment of their chemical dependency. PGY-2 residents rotate through this service for a minimum of two months and may elect to return in their senior year. In addition to the ADTP program, there is an extensive outpatient program and a dual diagnosis programs (SAMI Program) with at variety of diagnosis specific tracks to which the residents have exposure. Anxiety Disorders Clinic Tuesdays, 1 – 5 pm with Dr. Sanjaya Saxena The La Jolla VA Anxiety Disorders Clinic (ADC) will offer specialized training in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with complex anxiety disorders and comorbid conditions. All trainees will be supervised by a multi-disciplinary faculty of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. We stress the integration of pharmacological and psychological treatment interventions. Residents will learn syndrome-specific pharmacotherapies for anxiety disorders, including strategies for chronic or refractory illness. Trainees will also learn the basic principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and can become proficient in specialized forms of CBT that have demonstrated efficacy for specific anxiety disorders (Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD, Social Phobia, and Simple Phobia), as well as OCD Spectrum Disorders such as Trichotillomania and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Training will consist of 3 hours of patient care + 1 hour of didactic/case conference each week, for 1 year. Clinic patients seen by trainees will also be seen briefly by a clinic Attending, for real-time supervision of both pharmacotherapy and CBT. In addition to a weekly, three hour block of directly supervised patient care in the clinic, the rotation will include a weekly, 1-hr. seminar that runs year-round. This seminar will include case conferences, discussion sessions, and formal didactics, which will cover assessment, phenomenology, basic and clinical neurobiology, cognitive theory, differential diagnosis, psychopharmacological treatment, and CBT of patients with anxiety disorders and related conditions. Interested trainees will also be able receive research training by assisting on research protocols conducted by clinic faculty. Consult-Liaison/ Hospice We are delighted to begin a new rotation this year combining consultation-liaison at the VAHSC with Palliative Care at the San Diego Hospice. This new hybrid rotation emerged from residents request to expand their clinical experience in the both consultation-liaison psychiatry. Dr. Scott Irwin will oversee the rotation and supervise residents at Hopsice which will include 4 half-days (morning) for 1 month. This rotation will include seminars, at least one home visit and cases related to end-of-life care including pain management, depression, delirium and bereavement. Drs. Scott Matthews and Sanjai Rao will oversee the rotation and supervise residents at the VAHSC. Residents will provide consultation and liaison at VA General Medicine and Surgical services four afternoons weekly. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic The PTSD Clinic is located at the Mission Valley outpatient clinic, Primary care-post-deployment & military sexual trauma clinics. Residents receive on site mentorship supervision by Dewleen Baker M.D., Director: PTSD and Stress Disorders Programs and Carrie Rodgers Ph.D., Clinical Coordinator: Military Sexual Trauma Clinic SDVAHS. The clinic hours are Monday and Thursday 8:AM – 4:30 PM. Teaching goals are to 1.) Gain skills in structured and unstructured assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder, Structured assessments: SCID, Clinician Administered Scale for PTSD (CAPS); 2) Learn diagnostic algorithms for diagnosis of common psychiatric and medical disorders that co-occur with PTSD; 3) Become familiar with the interface between PTSD and developmental, gender and ethnic issues; 4) Gain practical experience in the treatment of PTSD, Pharmaceutical & Cognitive-behavioral treatment; 5) Become familiar with current research issues in PTSD. Activities include: Carry out diagnostic assessments in PTSD, Co-lead cognitive behavioral groups in PTSD, Gain experience in prolonged exposure therapy in PTSD (contingent upon certification of a local trainer), For residents wishing to do a 4^th year rotation, discuss and organize a research project in PTSD (voluntary). Psychiatry Primary Care Clinic (PPC) Supervised simultaneously by psychiatry and internal medicine faculty, this innovative clinic provides PGY-2 residents an opportunity to work with a caseload of up to 30 outpatients. Each resident is assigned PPC ½ day weekly through the second year of training. Patients are screened to have a chronic psychiatric disorder but also are followed for routine and preventive general medical care. The resident is both the psychiatric physician and the primary care provider for these patients. The experience gives residents an early exposure to outpatient psychiatry and supportive psychotherapy, provides continuity of care for a manageable caseload, and consolidates medical knowledge and skills obtained during the first year of training. The clinic is “protected” time, regardless of rotation on PGY-2. Resident may elect to continue their PCP during PGY-3 and PGY4. *Psychiatric Emergency Clinic (PEC) This is the triage clinic for all patients at the San Diego VAMC. An attending physician, PGY-2 resident, part-time medicine intern, medical students, and other psychiatric paraprofessionals staff the clinic. The clinic handles a large volume of patient visits that require a wide range of treatment interventions including acute hospitalization, brief counseling and crisis intervention, and routine psychopharmacologic management. All PGY-2 residents rotate through PEC for at least one month. Special Treatment and Evaluation Program-Mood (STEP)* Residents from PGY-2 through PGY-4 may spend up to ½ day weekly caring for patients in this research clinic. Residents learn to administer structured diagnostic interviews and rating scales and provide psychiatric care for a cohort of patients in mood disorder research protocols. On site supervision is provided by full time academic faculty. *Neurology Service / Training* PGY-1 residents spend two months as a part of the VAMC and/or UCSD neurology team. A behavioral neurologist coordinates the rotation. Lectures on behavioral neurology are given in PGY-1 and 2 and a comprehensive 2-day course on neurology for psychiatrists is given in PGY-4. Senior residents can elect to spend further time as a consultant to a neurology clinic and participate in medical student teaching of neurology. Outpatient Psychiatry Services of Children’s Hospital and Health Center Children's Hospital and Health Center is the leading tertiary care center for children in San Diego County. The Outpatient Psychiatry Services is one of the major divisions of Children's Hospital. The staff at the outpatient psychiatry services includes child psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, pediatric consultants, psychiatric residents and medical students. St. Vincent de Paul Community Village St. Vincent de Paul Community Village is an innovative and exciting “feel-good” elective rotation for PGY3 residents who may spend up to one day weekly rotating there during their outpatient year. This unique setting is the primary training site for the UCSD Combined Family Medicine and Psychiatry Residency Training Program. St. Vincent de Paul Village is a world-renowned program of comprehensive services to the San Diego homeless community. Founded in 1987, the Village Medical and Mental Health Clinic provides free health care to uninsured, homeless persons. It serves, as its first priority, the 865+ persons residing in the Village (homeless persons and families entering the recovery program of SVDP may live there for up to two years); next, the thousands of homeless on the street; and the local poor-but –housed (uninsured) as the final priority. On an average half-day shift residents may evaluate one to two new patients and see another two to four patients for return or follow-up visits. Neurology Service The residency training program in neurology was established in 1970 and is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Training is offered in adult and pediatric neurology as well as neurologic subspecialties. Opportunities in neurology include: inpatient experience on the neurology ward, consultation service and specialty outpatient clinics (Genetically Handicapped Persons Program for Neurologic Diseases, Stroke, Epilepsy, Dementia, Higher Cortical Function, Peripheral Nerve, and Movement Disorders Clinics). PGY 1 residents spend two months as a part of the UCSD neurologic team. The rotation is coordinated by a behavioral neurologist. Senior residents can elect to spend further time as a consultant to a neurology clinic. Mercy Hospital Medical Center Mercy Hospital Medical Center is where most PGY1 resident have their four-month inpatient internal medicine clinical experience. For most residents two months are spent on inpatient and two are spent on the Ambulatory Service. The site was selected for the general medicine rotation on the basis of Mercy’s outstanding reputation for its clinical care and clinical training and its proximity to the UCSD Medical Center. Mercy Hospital is a 520-bed, acute care inpatient facility, a Level I Trauma Center, and the site of the Mercy Clinic. A full range of tertiary care in internal medicine, surgery and surgical subspecialties, pediatrics and obstetrics, and gynecology is provided both inpatient and outpatient settings, with approximately 400 patients admitted to the internal medicine inpatient service each month. Caseloads are carefully monitored and controlled for both breadth and a variety of experience. Residents participate fully as inpatient physicians as one of two PGY1 members of a medicine ward team, supervised and taught by a senior internal medicine resident and two attending physicians. Additional consultative services are available in medical subspecialties at all times.

Psychiatry Clinical Opportunities

Supervision

On Call Duties

UCSD Medical Center
UCSD Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Services
UCSD Eating Disorders Program
UCSD Consultation Liaison Service (C/L)
UCSD Outpatient Psychiatric Services
UCSD Senior Behavioral Health Unit

UC San Diego Medical Center, is a modern 440-bed full-service teaching and research facility built in 1963 and renovated in 1993. The medical center is located in the Hillcrest area of San Diego, about twenty minutes by car from the main UCSD campus in La Jolla.

UCSD Medical Center, Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Also called "Neuropsychiatry of Behavioral Medicine Unit (NBMU)”, UCSD Medical Center is a modern 440-bed full-service teaching and research facility built in 1963 and renovated in 1993. The medical center is located in the Hillcrest area of San Diego, about twenty minutes by car from the main UCSD campus in La Jolla.

The Psychiatry Unit is an 18-bed, acute care psychiatric service that is staffed by a full-time attending physician, chief resident, 3 junior residents, psychology and social work trainees, occupational therapist, medical students, psychiatric R.N.'s and L.V.N.'s, and social workers. The unit emphasizes use of treatment teams, family therapy, and a milieu approach in addition to incorporating state-of-the-art psychopharmacologic therapy, supportive psychotherapy techniques, and electroconvulsive treatment (ECT).

Selected patients also participate in research protocols that are designed to investigate the psychophysiology, neuropsychology and neurobiology of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. The patients' primary psychiatric physicians are PGY-1 and 2 residents who coordinate all aspects of patient care with the help of the treatment team.

UCSD Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services (CAPS)

PGY2 residents have a required full-time rotation of 2 months duration in the PG-II year training at this JCAHO accredited facility. UCSD Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services (CAPS) is a 28-bed inpatient service that was transferred under contract to UCSD From the County of San Diego. The hospital includes a 12-14-bed acute care facility for adolescents and a 12-14 bed short-term facility for children. It is located 10 miles from the primary site of training.

Treatment approaches include individual and group psychotherapy, behavior modification, therapeutic community, psychopharmacology and family therapy. The residents receive a minimum of 1 hour of individual supervision weekly from their unit medical director in addition to their other clinical supervision and didactics. Residents attend case conferences, seminars and team meetings throughout the rotation. In addition, residents may elect to follow additional child/adolescent outpatients at St. Vincent de Paul and/or Children’s Hospital during PGY3 and PGY4.

The UCSD Consultation Liaison Service (C/L)

This service consists of a full-time faculty, and a PGY-2 resident who rotates on this service for 1-2 months. PGY-1, 2, and 3 residents provide nighttime and weekend coverage for the CL service with supervision offered by the directors of the program. Residents are required to meet one hour a week with the C/L supervisor.

UCSD Outpatient Psychiatric Services (OPD)

Located at the UCSD Medical Center Campus and providing over 25,000 patient visits per year, the OPD is the Departments major site for teaching ambulatory psychiatry. Part of the clinic serves as an outpatient "private practice" model for our training program. The clinic also provides services for county-funded patients. Clinic staff consists of attending physicians, residents, psychiatry and non-psychiatry medical students, social workers, psychologists, MFCC interns, and psychology trainees.

Treatment modalities include individual, couples, family and group psychotherapy--both dynamic and behavioral--and medication treatment. Selected patients participate in psychopharmacology research and innovative "biologically informed psychotherapies." PGY-3 residents spend their entire year based at the OPD where they function as outpatient psychiatrists. In addition, PGY-2 and PGY-4 residents follow selected patients. This provides the potential of a three-year longitudinal experience in psychotherapy. PGY-3 residents may also elect to spend up to two half-days of their outpatient experience on at St. Vincent de Paul. Many residents also elect to participate on one or more of the clinics specialty programs: dual diagnosis, mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive program, clinical trials, and others.

St. Vincent de Paul Community Village (SVDP)

An innovative, exciting and “feel-good” elective rotation for PGY3 residents who may spend up to one-day weekly rotation of SVDP during their outpatient year, this unique setting is the primary training site for the UCSD Combined Family Medicine and Psychiatry Residency Training Program. St. Vincent de Paul Village is a world-renowned program of comprehensive services to the San Diego homeless community. Founded in 1987, the Village Medical and Mental Health clinic provides free health care to uninsured, homeless persons. It serves, as its first priority, the 865+ persons residing in the Village (homeless persons and families entering the recovery program of SVDP may live there for up to 2 years) next, the thousands of homeless on the street; and, finally the local poor-but-housed (uninsured) as the final priority. On an average half-day shift, residents may evaluate 1-2 new patients and see another 2-4 patients for return or follow-up visits.

Senior Behavioral Unit

The UCSD Senior Behavioral Health Program consist of three components: the 14 bed inpatient unit, this state-of-the-art environment for the treatment of older patients with psychiatric and medical illnesses is located at the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest, two outpatient clinics, and a community consultation service. Some of the features of the inpatient unit include therapeutic lighting, a continuous walking path, purposeful use of color to cue patients and help compensate for visual deficits and decreased visuospatial abilities, and carefully selected artwork that refutes inaccurate, negative beliefs about aging. Patients are evaluated and treated by a multi-disciplinary team that includes board-certified geriatric psychiatrists, geriatric internal medicine specialists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, registered dietitians, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. About half of the patients admitted to the inpatient unit receive treatment for depression and anxiety disorders and the other half receive treatment for behavioral and psychological symptoms associated with dementia. The average daily census hovers around 12 and the average length of stay is about 14 days.

UCSD Eating Disorders Program

The Department of Psychiatry at UCSD is proud to announce the newly established intensive outpatient eating disorder program at UCSD offers a rotation for third or fourth year residents which allows them the opportunity to receive specialized training in the assessment and treatment of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Treatment is multidisciplinary and may involve combinations of individual, group, family, and couples psychotherapy. The resident will carry a caseload of individual eating disorder clients and co-lead treatment groups throughout the rotation. This will include the coordination of appropriate care for each patient.

VA MEDICAL CENTER

The VA Medical Center is an 811-bed facility located on the main campus of UCSD in La Jolla. It is one of the most modern, best-equipped VA hospitals in the country. The professional staff consists almost entirely of full-time members of the UCSD faculty, and the Chief of Staff is an Associate Dean in the School of Medicine.

San Diego Veterans Administration General Adult Inpatient Unit (2 South)

The General Adult Inpatient Unit, also called 2 South, is a 33-bed inpatient psychiatric unit that is staffed by 3 full-time attending physicians, 2-3 senior residents, up to 6 junior residents, medical students, psychiatric R.N.'s and L.V.N.'s, occupational therapists, social workers, and psychiatric pharmacists. Patients receive comprehensive medical and psychiatric assessments, crisis intervention, psychopharmacologic management, ECT, supportive psychotherapy, and group therapy with PGY-1 and 2 residents serving as their primary psychiatric physician.

Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program (ADTP)

The ADTP is a 29-bed inpatient alcohol and drug treatment program based at the San Diego VAMC. 2 attending physicians, a senior resident, 2 PGY 2 residents, 2 medical student, substance abuse counselors, nurses and social workers, staff the unit. UC San Diego's nationally known Alcohol Research Program and Dual Diagnosis Program base much of its research out of the ADTP. Patients receive complete medical and psychiatric care as well as the most up-to-date treatment of their chemical dependency. PGY-2 residents rotate through this service for a minimum of two months and may elect to return in their senior year. In addition to the ADTP program, there is an extensive outpatient program and a dual diagnosis programs (SAMI Program) with at variety of diagnosis specific tracks to which the residents have exposure.

Anxiety Disorders Clinic

Tuesdays, 1 – 5 pm with Dr. Sanjaya Saxena

The La Jolla VA Anxiety Disorders Clinic (ADC) will offer specialized training in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with complex anxiety disorders and comorbid conditions. All trainees will be supervised by a multi-disciplinary faculty of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. We stress the integration of pharmacological and psychological treatment interventions. Residents will learn syndrome-specific pharmacotherapies for anxiety disorders, including strategies for chronic or refractory illness. Trainees will also learn the basic principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and can become proficient in specialized forms of CBT that have demonstrated efficacy for specific anxiety disorders (Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD, Social Phobia, and Simple Phobia), as well as OCD Spectrum Disorders such as Trichotillomania and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Training will consist of 3 hours of patient care + 1 hour of didactic/case conference each week, for 1 year.

Clinic patients seen by trainees will also be seen briefly by a clinic Attending, for real-time supervision of both pharmacotherapy and CBT. In addition to a weekly, three hour block of directly supervised patient care in the clinic, the rotation will include a weekly, 1-hr. seminar that runs year-round. This seminar will include case conferences, discussion sessions, and formal didactics, which will cover assessment, phenomenology, basic and clinical neurobiology, cognitive theory, differential diagnosis, psychopharmacological treatment, and CBT of patients with anxiety disorders and related conditions. Interested trainees will also be able receive research training by assisting on research protocols conducted by clinic faculty.

Consult-Liaison/ Hospice

We are delighted to begin a new rotation this year combining consultation-liaison at the VAHSC with Palliative Care at the San Diego Hospice. This new hybrid rotation emerged from residents request to expand their clinical experience in the both consultation-liaison psychiatry. Dr. Scott Irwin will oversee the rotation and supervise residents at Hopsice which will include 4 half-days (morning) for 1 month. This rotation will include seminars, at least one home visit and cases related to end-of-life care including pain management, depression, delirium and bereavement. Drs. Scott Matthews and Sanjai Rao will oversee the rotation and supervise residents at the VAHSC. Residents will provide consultation and liaison at VA General Medicine and Surgical services four afternoons weekly.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic

The PTSD Clinic is located at the Mission Valley outpatient clinic, Primary care-post-deployment & military sexual trauma clinics. Residents receive on site mentorship supervision by Dewleen Baker M.D., Director: PTSD and Stress Disorders Programs and Carrie Rodgers Ph.D., Clinical Coordinator: Military Sexual Trauma Clinic SDVAHS. The clinic hours are Monday and Thursday 8:AM – 4:30 PM.

Teaching goals are to 1.) Gain skills in structured and unstructured assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder, Structured assessments: SCID, Clinician Administered Scale for PTSD (CAPS); 2) Learn diagnostic algorithms for diagnosis of common psychiatric and medical disorders that co-occur with PTSD; 3) Become familiar with the interface between PTSD and developmental, gender and ethnic issues; 4) Gain practical experience in the treatment of PTSD, Pharmaceutical & Cognitive-behavioral treatment; 5) Become familiar with current research issues in PTSD. Activities include: Carry out diagnostic assessments in PTSD, Co-lead cognitive behavioral groups in PTSD, Gain experience in prolonged exposure therapy in PTSD (contingent upon certification of a local trainer), For residents wishing to do a 4^th year rotation, discuss and organize a research project in PTSD (voluntary).

Psychiatry Primary Care Clinic (PPC)

Supervised simultaneously by psychiatry and internal medicine faculty, this innovative clinic provides PGY-2 residents an opportunity to work with a caseload of up to 30 outpatients. Each resident is assigned PPC ½ day weekly through the second year of training. Patients are screened to have a chronic psychiatric disorder but also are followed for routine and preventive general medical care. The resident is both the psychiatric physician and the primary care provider for these patients. The experience gives residents an early exposure to outpatient psychiatry and supportive psychotherapy, provides continuity of care for a manageable caseload, and consolidates medical knowledge and skills obtained during the first year of training. The clinic is “protected” time, regardless of rotation on PGY-2. Resident may elect to continue their PCP during PGY-3 and PGY4.

Psychiatric Emergency Clinic (PEC)

This is the triage clinic for all patients at the San Diego VAMC. An attending physician, PGY-2 resident, part-time medicine intern, medical students, and other psychiatric paraprofessionals staff the clinic. The clinic handles a large volume of patient visits that require a wide range of treatment interventions including acute hospitalization, brief counseling and crisis intervention, and routine psychopharmacologic management. All PGY-2 residents rotate through PEC for at least one month.

Special Treatment and Evaluation Program-Mood (STEP)

Residents from PGY-2 through PGY-4 may spend up to ½ day weekly caring for patients in this research clinic. Residents learn to administer structured diagnostic interviews and rating scales and provide psychiatric care for a cohort of patients in mood disorder research protocols. On site supervision is provided by full time academic faculty.

Neurology Service / Training

PGY-1 residents spend two months as a part of the VAMC and/or UCSD neurology team. A behavioral neurologist coordinates the rotation. Lectures on behavioral neurology are given in PGY-1 and 2 and a comprehensive 2-day course on neurology for psychiatrists is given in PGY-4. Senior residents can elect to spend further time as a consultant to a neurology clinic and participate in medical student teaching of neurology.

Outpatient Psychiatry Services of Children’s Hospital and Health Center

Children's Hospital and Health Center is the leading tertiary care center for children in San Diego County. The Outpatient Psychiatry Services is one of the major divisions of Children's Hospital. The staff at the outpatient psychiatry services includes child psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, pediatric consultants, psychiatric residents and medical students.

St. Vincent de Paul Community Village

St. Vincent de Paul Community Village is an innovative and exciting “feel-good” elective rotation for PGY3 residents who may spend up to one day weekly rotating there during their outpatient year. This unique setting is the primary training site for the UCSD Combined Family Medicine and Psychiatry Residency Training Program. St. Vincent de Paul Village is a world-renowned program of comprehensive services to the San Diego homeless community. Founded in 1987, the Village Medical and Mental Health Clinic provides free health care to uninsured, homeless persons. It serves, as its first priority, the 865+ persons residing in the Village (homeless persons and families entering the recovery program of SVDP may live there for up to two years); next, the thousands of homeless on the street; and the local poor-but –housed (uninsured) as the final priority. On an average half-day shift residents may evaluate one to two new patients and see another two to four patients for return or follow-up visits.

Neurology Service

The residency training program in neurology was established in 1970 and is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Training is offered in adult and pediatric neurology as well as neurologic subspecialties. Opportunities in neurology include: inpatient experience on the neurology ward, consultation service and specialty outpatient clinics (Genetically Handicapped Persons Program for Neurologic Diseases, Stroke, Epilepsy, Dementia, Higher Cortical Function, Peripheral Nerve, and Movement Disorders Clinics). PGY 1 residents spend two months as a part of the UCSD neurologic team. The rotation is coordinated by a behavioral neurologist. Senior residents can elect to spend further time as a consultant to a neurology clinic.

Mercy Hospital Medical Center

Mercy Hospital Medical Center is where most PGY1 resident have their four-month inpatient internal medicine clinical experience. For most residents two months are spent on inpatient and two are spent on the Ambulatory Service. The site was selected for the general medicine rotation on the basis of Mercy’s outstanding reputation for its clinical care and clinical training and its proximity to the UCSD Medical Center. Mercy Hospital is a 520-bed, acute care inpatient facility, a Level I Trauma Center, and the site of the Mercy Clinic. A full range of tertiary care in internal medicine, surgery and surgical subspecialties, pediatrics and obstetrics, and gynecology is provided both inpatient and outpatient settings, with approximately 400 patients admitted to the internal medicine inpatient service each month. Caseloads are carefully monitored and controlled for both breadth and a variety of experience. Residents participate fully as inpatient physicians as one of two PGY1 members of a medicine ward team, supervised and taught by a senior internal medicine resident and two attending physicians. Additional consultative services are available in medical subspecialties at all times.