Inpatient Psychiatry Acting Internship - NVMHI

The student performs as an acting intern on one of the acute inpatient psychiatric teams at Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) in Falls Church, Virginia. The student is expected to have prior psychiatry clerkship experience. NVMHI is a 134 bed state psychiatric hospital that is a training site for GW Department of Psychiatry residents, Walter Reed residents, and third year medical students from GW and other schools. The student will:

• Proactively participate in treatment of patients across a wide diagnostic spectrum of acute and chronic psychiatric disorders, taking on greater responsibility than on the core 3rd year clerkship.
• Be directly involved in clinical decision-making and documentation.
• Attend relevant court hearings for recommitment, etc.
• Experience the challenges and opportunities of serving some of the most mentally ill in the public sector, which involves not only individual patient care, but also engaging a systems approach to collaborate with families and outpatient/county services.

The student will attend weekly didactics with PGYII residents. NVMHI is an attending-driven hospital, so students will be able to directly work with and learn from experienced attending psychiatrists daily.

Course Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Evaluate and treat psychiatric inpatients at the junior resident level.
2. Recognize the role of psychiatrist as leader of an interdisciplinary clinical team.
3. Describe the medicolegal processes pertaining to state hospital admissions.
4. Demonstrate knowledge of evidence-based psychopharmacology for severe and treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions.