Director's Welcome
We are genuinely delighted that you have joined us for this short but impactful period in your training. We are looking forward to working with you and regardless of your future career path, we wish you the most exciting, stimulating, rewarding, and transforming experience possible over the coming weeks. The Psychiatry clerkship will provide you with a solid foundation in clinical reasoning, help you acquire fundamental skills, reinforce and expand your knowledge of the pathophysiology and treatment of common adult and pediatric psychiatric disorders, and help you develop personally and professionally. The Psychiatry clerkship will be challenging but rewarding as you step onto the adult psychiatry wards at VCU Medical Center and Hunter Holmes McGuire VAMC, onto the pediatric psychiatry units at VTCC, onto adult medical floors and the Emergency Department with the Adult Consult-Liaison service, and at Jackson Center as part of the adult outpatient clinic treatment team. You will be part of a high-performing, multi-disciplinary behavioral health team providing great care to complex patients of all ages and stages of life. To supplement your clinical experiences, the clerkship offers structured weekly case conferences and exceptional in situ teaching by our talented residents, fellows, and faculty.
The Psychiatry Clerkship and the Department of Psychiatry take great pride in our educational programs and want you to have the most valuable educational experience possible. Our attendings are selected for their interest in education and value their time with you. This clerkship is oriented toward adult learners: your results directly correlate with effort. Our faculty will invest their time and talents in helping you on your journey into the world of Psychiatry, while also pushing you to take ownership for your own learning. We hope that this experience inspires you to learn and experience more of what Psychiatry offers.
For those that will be joining the clerkship, you will be granted access to the Psychiatry Clerkship Google Drive. This drive contains information that will be useful to you throughout the clerkship. The clerkship directors and administrators have an open-door, rapid accessibility policy. If you have any concerns about the clerkship, your rotations or your own personal learning, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time. We look forward to working with you!
Best of Luck!
- Kathryn L. Jones, M.D., Ph.D.