Clinical Curriculum

In addition to providing opportunities to manage patients in different clinical settings, the clinical curriculum is designed to ensure that you will rotate through many different systems of care. These systems include a free standing psychiatric hospital (Yale Psychiatric Hospital), a community hospital (Yale New Haven Hospital), a federal hospital (VA Connecticut Health Care Center) and a state hospital (Connecticut Mental Health Center). We believe that exposure to different systems of care is critical to developing the ability to lead a system of care later in your career.

The Core Psychiatry Program is designed to provide the clinical experiences essential for the development of basic knowledge and skills needed to practice in all sectors of contemporary psychiatry. Learn about the clinical curriculum, the different settings and the faculty you will interact with in that setting:

PGY-I

The PGY-I year is designed to solidify your identity as a physician. You will complete 6 months of medicine and two months of neurology. Four months of the PGY-I year are devoted to psychiatry; three months are spent on an inpatient adult psychiatry service and one month on an adolescent service.

PGY-II

The PGY-II year consists of one 3-month adult psychiatry inpatient rotation, a 3-month selective rotation where you can work on an academic project or work with specialized populations of patients, two months of substance abuse training, a 2-month consultation/liaison rotation, a 1-month geriatrics rotation, and a 1-month emergency psychiatry rotation. Work with long-term psychotherapy patients also begins in PGY-II and continues throughout the Residency.

Transferring PGY-IIs

PGY-IIs transferring from other programs have this schedule:

All PGY-IIs

1/2 day per week outpatient Yale Long Term Care Clinic (YLTCC)

PGY-III

The PGY-III year consists of 12 months of outpatient psychiatry and usually includes supervised clinical experience in addiction psychiatry, child psychiatry, and continuation of YLTCC. 20% of time during the PGY-III year is reserved to allow you to continue your academic project or to work with a specialized patient population.

PGY-IV

The PGY-IV year is free of required experiences. You will have the opportunity to develop an individualized program that allows you to pursue a career interest, an academic project, or work with a specialized group of patients. Your PGY-IV education plans facilitate your entry into the next stage of your career.