Schedule and Locations

The Psychiatry Residency Program at UT Southwestern follows the requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), providing interns rotations through different centers of care.

Primary Care

Duration: 4 months
Locations: Internal Medicine wards and Hospitalist Med-Secure unit at Parkland Hospital; Pediatrics wards at Children’s Health℠ Children’s Medical Center.
Call expectations: Call schedule varies on the inpatient wards months. No weekend duties for the Med-Secure unit. No call or weekend duties for geriatrics.

• 2 Inpatient Ward months in Internal Medicine. 1 month may be replaced with Inpatient Pediatrics Wards.
• 1 month of Hospitalist Medicine on the Med-Secure unit, which is very well liked by residents because it combines management of medical and psychiatric illnesses.
• 1 month of Geriatric Medicine: Residents will have the opportunity to work in ambulatory, home health, and nursing home settings. This rotation has a unique didactic component that is highly valued by current residents. 

Neurology (Parkland or UT Southwestern)

Duration: 2 months
Locations: Parkland Hospital and William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital
Call expectations: Call schedule varies on the inpatient wards months. Rotating weekend rounding is expected.

• General Neurology Wards: Residents will become familiar with the neurologic exam, neuro-diagnostics, and a wide variety of neurologic diseases.
• Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU): Residents will round on the inpatient epilepsy monitoring unit under the supervision of seasoned epileptologists. Residents will become familiar with EEG architecture, seizure characterization, nonepileptic events, and comorbid psychiatric illness in patients with seizures.
• Child Neurology consultation: Residents will provide consultation for patients at Children’s Medical Center for a variety of neurologic conditions, including rare metabolic and congenital disorders.

Community Psychiatry/Homeless Services Team

Duration: 1 month
Location: Metrocare Services
Call expectations: No call or weekend responsibilities.

Residents see patients experiencing homelessness in clinics, at shelters, and in street outreach. Residents learn about the acute psychiatric management of major mental illnesses and addiction, as well as recovery approaches that engage patients in their long-term healing.

Psychiatric Emergency Services

Duration: 1 month
Location: Parkland Hospital
Call expectations: Four 12-hour weekday shifts/week expected. No call duties.

Residents will gain exposure in emergency psychiatry by working in dedicated psychiatric emergency rooms and as members of triage teams that evaluate patients with psychiatric concerns throughout the Parkland emergency department. Residents will learn about acute presentations of psychiatric illness and treatment, intoxication and withdrawal states, as well as working in an interdisciplinary team. Our Psychiatric Emergency Services are staffed continuously by attending psychiatrists on-site, providing especially thorough supervision and guidance. 

Addiction Psychiatry

Duration: 1 month
Location: Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Call expectations: Assist with call coverage during short call, 1 week of night float, and on weekends. These duties are split with other psychiatry residents who are also at the VA.

During this rotation, residents will provide medical and psychiatric care to residential inpatients on the VA Gold team under the supervision of an attending. The educational component of this rotation includes selected readings and lectures that are generally highly praised by past residents. In addition, residents receive tutorials in Motivational Interviewing, an evidence-based psychotherapy for addictions.

Inpatient Psychiatry

Duration: 4 months
Locations: Parkland Hospital (1 month), William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital (1 month), and Dallas Veteran Affairs Medical Center (2 months)
Call expectations: Weekend, night float, overnight, and evening shifts are expected. Short call duties.

Experience on this rotation includes learning inpatient management of acute and chronic psychiatric illnesses, introduction to ECT, and psychotherapy lectures.

What Residents Learn

Core didactics occur on Tuesdays. As an intern, you will find that didactics consist of a general survey of all aspects of psychiatry. Didactics also include a series on medical management of your patients and participation in special seminars (e.g., art and psychiatry, mental health care in minority groups) and journal clubs.

Balance and Diversity

The first year of residency will expose you to the most common populations, disorders, and therapies. You will have the opportunity to observe diagnostic methods in action and the results of a variety of therapeutic modalities.

Opportunities

The UT Southwestern Psychiatry Residency Program will provide you with the flexibility to develop the training program that best fits your career plans. This Residency Program includes elective clinical rotations in a variety of subspecialties, additional clinical training opportunities in psychoanalysis and primary care, and opportunities to participate in research studies.

What Makes Our Program Special

Flexibility

You can do all your primary care experience in medicine, pediatrics, or any combination of months that make sense for you individually.

T-Group

You will also devote an hour every other week to the unstructured training group (or “T-Group”) that emphasizes mutual support, problem solving, and experiential learning about small group processes. A few times each year you will also participate in a large T-group that consists of all the residents.

Mentoring

The Residency Program Training Director will meet with your intern class exclusively on a quarterly basis, and you will be assigned a residency “family,” which consists of residents from all years of training and faculty supervisors. Your “family” meets with you quarterly and is available to answer questions and provide additional guidance as you continue through residency.