Can you briefly describe “a week in the life” on your current rotation?
As a PGY-4 resident, my schedule has become the most varied and diverse it has ever been in residency. Standard residency work has started to share time with other responsibilities such as leadership roles, education opportunities, working with junior residents, and similar experiences. I enjoy that aspect of things because it feels like good training for the many challenges that the fast-approaching real-world life as a doctor will bring. On a weekly basis, I continue to see my longitudinal outpatient clinic patients for 2 days a week, while now also adding in rotations of electives tailored towards my interests on the other days. I will be spending time working on the consult service, in the TMS clinic, going off site to private hospital experiences in ED and inpatient work, and more. All in all, 4th year remains residency and has its continued challenges in that sense, but it also feels like a major step towards the career I have worked so long to pursue. I think our program has done a good job catering my opportunities to my interests in a great way, and I’m really appreciative of that.
I am interested in forensic psychiatry and currently on a longitudinal rotation. On Mondays and Tuesdays I see patients in my continuity clinic that began the spring of my 2nd year. On Wednesdays I am on the consult service as a senior resident. Then on Thursdays and Fridays I get to accompany a community forensic psychologist at various locations and jails to gain experience conducting court competency evaluations, observing expert testimony in court, and observing psychological assessments. It has been a great experience and I am grateful our program gives us the freedom to pursue our interests!