During the first year after graduation, a medical school graduate frequently completes an internship in her general area of specialty. As a result, hospital insiders frequently refer to an intern as a PGY-1, which refers to someone in her first postgraduate year of training. An intern seeking a psychiatry residency and eventual board certification as a psychiatrist will first complete a PGY-1 psychiatry internship, followed by three years of residency — PGY-2, 3, and 4 — before taking her psychiatry board exams. The requirements for a psychiatry internship vary depending on the institution that accepts the intern into its program. Clinical rotations in internal medicine and inpatient psychiatry, as well as coursework and seminars, are common requirements in most programs.
During a psychiatry internship, the courses of study and clinical exposure are divided into blocks of four to six months, depending on the program and the emphasis placed on experience in specific areas. Clinical rotations in both inpatient and outpatient internal medicine, as well as neurology, are required of all psychiatry interns. Internal medicine encompasses the study of adult disease treatment and includes subspecialties such as endocrinology, gastroenterology, and hematology, among others. During the neurology rotation, physical disease and disorders of the nervous system, including the brain, are addressed. Because many internal medicine and neurological diseases can mimic psychiatric disorders, and psychiatric medications naturally have systemic effects in addition to their primary uses, these rotations are included in a psychiatry internship.
One or more clinical rotations in inpatient psychiatric units are also part of a psychiatry internship. Under the supervision of more experienced residents and a supervising attending physician, interns admit patients, evaluate their conditions, prescribe medications and laboratory tests, and discharge them. Acute admissions, emergency admissions, and long-term or chronic treatment units are all examples of inpatient hospitalizations. It’s also important to understand the pharmacology of psychotropic medications. Some internship programs emphasize emergency psychiatry, adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapy, or research projects, which are then added to the intern’s responsibilities.
During a psychiatry internship, a PGY-1 is also expected to perform on-call duties of varying duration and hours. The extent of this responsibility is determined by the rotation and the requirements of the participating hospital. In general, however, psychiatry internship hours are less demanding than those of other medical specialties. During their first year of internship, psychiatry residents are also entitled to four weeks of vacation.