Psych residency programs

[BigM]

Hello,

 

I am currently a clinical clerk and I have had a pretty long-standing and progressive interest in pursuing psychiatry. I have looked at the websites for most of the programs and have learned what I can from them. I was hoping that someone could shed some light on some of the strengths and weaknesses of the psych programs at different universities. In particular I am interested in any red flag schools: programs where residents seem to be discontent or there have been issues passing exams, etc. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated! You could PM me the info if you don't want your opinions going public.

 

Thanks!

[Renin]

Hey

 

I think it depends what kind of psychiatry you are interested in pursuing in the future (have you thought ahead that far? I sure haven't made up my mind...)

 

I think red flag programs are relatively easy to find - they are the ones that have multiple empty spots left over at the end of the first round of CaRMS... Keep in mind there are various reasons one or two spots might not fill, but if they not fill more than half of their spots, I definitely put them lower on my list when I was in your shoes.

 

Feel free to send me a PM if you have any other questions or want my personal opinions on anything...

[apache]

go to u of t, period... they offer everything... literally everything

[NLengr]

go to u of t, period... they offer everything... literally everything

 

U of T is a love it or hate it school for residency. Some people like the atmosphere and the city. Some people can't stand it. Out of all the places to do residency (any residency) its probably the place that is most divisive for potential applicants.

[futureGP]

U of T is a love it or hate it school for residency. Some people like the atmosphere and the city. Some people can't stand it. Out of all the places to do residency (any residency) its probably the place that is most divisive for potential applicants.

 

toronto is pretty boring though.

 

city has clustered culture groups cause each minority group has their own thing going on that they're sustainable by themselves.

 

city spirit sucks a lot too

 

 

but if you like the ivory tower u'll love toronto

[apache]

i loved the program, it seemed such a dream to someone who approaches a problem, person, in every possible way... toronto does get old though... much prefer vancouver

 

lol, it's funny people think im crazy, i just feel nothing but sick, i cant keep in the **** i know anymore... the other rape post didnt really shock me, privnces are very different though, bu we're by far the most corrupt, 3/12 months that on the news paper front page, le sigh

 

toronto is pretty boring though.

 

city has clustered culture groups cause each minority group has their own thing going on that they're sustainable by themselves.

 

city spirit sucks a lot too

 

 

but if you like the ivory tower u'll love toronto

[futureGP]

i loved the program, it seemed such a dream to someone who approaches a problem, person, in every possible way... toronto does get old though... much prefer vancouver

 

lol, it's funny people think im crazy, i just feel nothing but sick, i cant keep in the **** i know anymore... the other rape post didnt really shock me, privnces are very different though, bu we're by far the most corrupt, 3/12 months that on the news paper front page, le sigh

 

lol...seriously man

 

corrupt as hell, and we definitely got the worst of everything (taxes/jobs/politics -- liberals?/debt/government support for OMA/economy)

 

i mean it's good to have a lot of people around you and all but this province really needs some improvement

[apache]

im albertan... lol, our ama pres called free weilding raj sherman and his evidence surgical cue skipping bipolar, patrick white... yeah, wonder why he did that... not like i'd know, and even if he weren't in any way convinced, then wow, letting an er doc who's bipolar practice over 20 years is also negligent, but its more the prior

 

lol...seriously man

 

corrupt as hell, and we definitely got the worst of everything (taxes/jobs/politics -- liberals?/debt/government support for OMA/economy)

 

i mean it's good to have a lot of people around you and all but this province really needs some improvement

[ellorie]

As a matter of interest, does anyone know which programs have a reputation for being strong in psychotherapy?

[Renin]

As a matter of interest, does anyone know which programs have a reputation for being strong in psychotherapy?

 

U of A

U of M

 

UBC, depending who you ask.

[apache]

not to harp on u of t, but they have the best osychotheraoy program, they have over 400 psychologists on faculty, ubc is good... i think they had psychotherapy training once a week after year 1

 

http://www.utpsychiatry.ca/about/recruitment/psychiatry-institute-for-medical-students/

 

****, they even brag if you want o have excellent psychotherapy training... well when you have hundreds of psychologists on staff itès not hard to teach ike 18 therpautic modalities...

 

http://postgrad.utpsychiatry.ca/psychotherapy/

 

wow, look at the divisions, cultural psychiatry, community heath services, humanities... yeah... plus any research in the world you want, population stuff, anything, ptsd in infants even (car crash... showed such unique changes in brain structure)

 

yeah, id bite my tongue and not deal with certain people apropriately if there wasnnt one school i wanted more, just a little more resources and a little more diverse... but beyond that, this is it... serious, purely the program... like if you dont want to be a drug pusher (psychopharmacologist... humorous name, since someones monolithic approach has the rigour and detail, well, no, no rigour and detail at all, compared to anothers sort of encyclopedia... and im not even bio oriented... yeah) go to an ecclectic school... honestly... u of a is very biopsych, and unless u like imaging not to great at that either

 

 

also, the u of t psych residents have a union, one schol, one specialty, works from 930 to 6... 1 in 8 call moving to 1 in 16... yeah, residents have unions... strangely residents in a specific specialty in on school also do... shoot

 

As a matter of interest, does anyone know which programs have a reputation for being strong in psychotherapy?

[NLengr]

not to harp on u of t, but they have the best osychotheraoy program, they have over 400 psychologists on faculty, ubc is good... i think they had psychotherapy training once a week after year 1

 

http://www.utpsychiatry.ca/about/recruitment/psychiatry-institute-for-medical-students/

 

****, they even brag if you want o have excellent psychotherapy training... well when you have hundreds of psychologists on staff itès not hard to teach ike 18 therpautic modalities...

 

http://postgrad.utpsychiatry.ca/psychotherapy/

 

wow, look at the divisions, cultural psychiatry, community heath services, humanities... yeah... plus any research in the world you want, population stuff, anything, ptsd in infants even (car crash... showed such unique changes in brain structure)

 

yeah, id bite my tongue and not deal with certain people apropriately if there wasnnt one school i wanted more, just a little more resources and a little more diverse... but beyond that, this is it... serious, purely the program... like if you dont want to be a drug pusher (psychopharmacologist... humorous name, since someones monolithic approach has the rigour and detail, well, no, no rigour and detail at all, compared to anothers sort of encyclopedia... and im not even bio oriented... yeah) go to an ecclectic school... honestly... u of a is very biopsych, and unless u like imaging not to great at that either

 

 

also, the u of t psych residents have a union, one schol, one specialty, works from 930 to 6... 1 in 8 call moving to 1 in 16... yeah, residents have unions... strangely residents in a specific specialty in on school also do... shoot

 

1:16 call is amazing. Even 1:8 is very good.

[apache]

yeah, i dunno if i mentioned, but first years of course standard to where you're rotating until you hit psych, so theres like 5 months of almost as ahrd as surg call there... well, prob less, but yeah, lol. it's cool though, they have a travel program where you go abroad and do psych in different culture, they have a whole bunch of different things, they have an insane biopsych oriented focus if that's your thing too (seriously sweet if u wanna do an md/phd).. i like how even though you choose a focus (like i prefer comple psychosocial patients that still require extensive bio intervention... i.e. no schizophrenics,,, i actually figured a guys stuttering out the other day, stuff that's like, to unusual to have failed after speech path, neruo etc. but some cog psych experiments with distrctor tasks i remembered help him find a med which would produce a similar info pro effect... and his symptoms subsided a done.... still minor, but after 20 years, he was pretty stoked... i like linear, versus discrete outcomes, synthetic solutions, very bottom up... when you gete the quandry of course... sumtimes it's just so obvious a->b that that's best approach, but i couldn't imagine having an allgorithim for everything without knowing a good deal of details... i find bot to be useful... like, not like i remember the name of the enzyme white grapefruit juice inhibits, lol, but u can always look that up

 

1:16 call is amazing. Even 1:8 is very good.

[ellorie]

Does anyone know which programs are most dependent on on-site electives?

 

Also, for psych is it better to do two weeks in different places or longer electives, like, 3-4 weeks, at programs you are most interested in? McGill only seems to offer 4 week electives in psychiatry, which seems like it would make you look really committed to McGill if you did an elective there and then shorter electives everywhere else, and 4 weeks seems like a long time to spend in one place.

 

All this information won't help me much if I go off the rails and decide to be an orthopod or something But I'm sure someone will find it useful and I would like to know even though I'm not seriously planning yet.

[apache]

u of t wants 2 two week (better 1, 2 week and 1, 3 week elective if your reasonable nearby... which the resident co-ordinator said was toronto... dunno but mcgill, g luck!

 

Does anyone know which programs are most dependent on on-site electives?

 

Also, for psych is it better to do two weeks in different places or longer electives, like, 3-4 weeks, at programs you are most interested in? McGill only seems to offer 4 week electives in psychiatry, which seems like it would make you look really committed to McGill if you did an elective there and then shorter electives everywhere else, and 4 weeks seems like a long time to spend in one place.

 

All this information won't help me much if I go off the rails and decide to be an orthopod or something But I'm sure someone will find it useful and I would like to know even though I'm not seriously planning yet.

[ellorie]

Wow, really? That seems excessive given that we only get 12 weeks of free elective time at Western.

[apache]

hmmm, i'm very much down to one (and u of t was like, mostly pretty it in canada). i have this bad habit, not get something, or way worse someone hassle out of something i deserve, and well, there's one school i wanted more than them... cause i get to do stuff well, yeah, im one of rare few into (well, here explaining nature articles is like telling a sarcastic joke no one get's, and so all end up staring at you... it's funny, don't talk philosophy to the other med students too, remember that, or debate the guy they call an ethics prof paid to rehash the provincial ethics standards... sorry, i shouldn't have said normative, i din't mean the confusion, lol

 

 

then again, as sarte said, we are the obstructed in seizing our freedom by our self definitions and self labels... as well as others view of us... you are what you choose... right, and impossible really isn't impossible.

 

yeah, try and make it clear to another pd that theyre your first choice and do a couple electives there if the 4 week (theyre really cutting your choices eh?) elective is less than a future 5 years of fun

 

Does anyone know which programs are most dependent on on-site electives?

 

Also, for psych is it better to do two weeks in different places or longer electives, like, 3-4 weeks, at programs you are most interested in? McGill only seems to offer 4 week electives in psychiatry, which seems like it would make you look really committed to McGill if you did an elective there and then shorter electives everywhere else, and 4 weeks seems like a long time to spend in one place.

 

All this information won't help me much if I go off the rails and decide to be an orthopod or something But I'm sure someone will find it useful and I would like to know even though I'm not seriously planning yet.

[apache]

their big thing is commitment, they want to know you want psych, and their program, one dude did a single elective, and matched gas instead even tho he wanted psych for that very reason... lol, usually other way around... just like i should be happy to take a fm res in alaska... yeah, lol, toronto's awesome, but unfortunately when bs is shut up, and you're sort of near the top... stuff stops mattering, ill be sure to make sure i do a talk on mobbing behaviour, complex ptsd in western canada sometime... yeah, im pretty impatient though and like my law books more, but there's always room for visitors... oh my, i love thinly, wait, not even veiled threats... that's how much i liked toronto, i wonder if they have needle van there, bet they do, wow, epic question... good thing someone has no plans to be in public health, or ever have a lawyer read rediculously easy money before sending it off... adhd often has photophobia perhaps... cognitive rigidity, exposure to a highly co-correlatory set of personality traits at a disproportionate rate for the general population, leading to the extrapolation of statistically unlikely behavior as the norm... to simplify, sort of like a double blind study with no random sampling and an experimenter that thinks there is... or weberian social selection... or yeah, i did actually just say that to someone very important, and it doesn't matter, because if you lose, a bit restricted, angry or not. since losing means people who make you lose realize you could make them lose... sort of like, the decision makers best friend is the least liabile to them... and yeah, the cross, and phrenology showing the 3 dots under the smart part of the skull point that one out

 

can you do a summer elective to get 2 weeks extra

of you want psych, ubc, u of t, mcgill and u of c would be my short list, but personally id try at least one school south, but thats just me, i checked ubcs program and thought it was cool, but i have to admit, id be there more for the week before school starts beach than program... program purely... to or one of two in us... calgary is suprisingly charming too... pretty good for what youd think for sure

 

 

Wow, really? That seems excessive given that we only get 12 weeks of free elective time at Western.

[chemgirl]

letting an er doc who's bipolar practice over 20 years is also negligent

 

I'm not on here a lot, and I came back today to see if anyone had questions about psychiatry and carms since it's a very nerve wracking time! I was here as a medical student and now I am PGY-3 psychiatry at U of A and I am loving it. I'm happy to answer any questions about our program specifically. I would consider us a strong psychotherapy program-it's all about your initiative. By the end of PGY-2 I had 3 CBT patients, 1 IPT patient and 1 psychodynamic patient, as well as DBT advanced skills group which may not look like a lot but it is when you consider it is in addition to the core rotations. If you want to do additional psychotherapy, it is not hard to find an interested supervisor.

 

I wanted more to address the quote above because it is not true and it really saddens me. I am bipolar and seeing quotes like this when I was a medical student was very discouraging. I would hope that nobody on here would read this quote and think you can't be a physician if you are bipolar because it isn't true. If you are bipolar, you need to have the insight realize when something is wrong and ask for help when it is necessary for your own health as well as the professional treatment of your patients.

 

I am bipolar, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta knows, my program director knows, most of my resident colleagues and many of my staff colleagues who have treated me when I have needed hospitalization and ECT know, too. I work a modified call schedule and do my rotations normally just like anyone else. It's rough but it is very possible. Please don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

[goleafsgochris]

I'm not on here a lot, and I came back today to see if anyone had questions about psychiatry and carms since it's a very nerve wracking time! I was here as a medical student and now I am PGY-3 psychiatry at U of A and I am loving it. I'm happy to answer any questions about our program specifically. I would consider us a strong psychotherapy program-it's all about your initiative. By the end of PGY-2 I had 3 CBT patients, 1 IPT patient and 1 psychodynamic patient, as well as DBT advanced skills group which may not look like a lot but it is when you consider it is in addition to the core rotations. If you want to do additional psychotherapy, it is not hard to find an interested supervisor.

 

I wanted more to address the quote above because it is not true and it really saddens me. I am bipolar and seeing quotes like this when I was a medical student was very discouraging. I would hope that nobody on here would read this quote and think you can't be a physician if you are bipolar because it isn't true. If you are bipolar, you need to have the insight realize when something is wrong and ask for help when it is necessary for your own health as well as the professional treatment of your patients.

 

I am bipolar, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta knows, my program director knows, most of my resident colleagues and many of my staff colleagues who have treated me when I have needed hospitalization and ECT know, too. I work a modified call schedule and do my rotations normally just like anyone else. It's rough but it is very possible. Please don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

I thought the same thing when I read it, but I didnt really want to hilight it by saying something.

 

Muse--you have a lot to say, and a lot of strong opinions, and the issue is in youre whole "word-diarrhea", a lot of what you say isnt true. Its just you say so MUCH that no one bothers to sift through it and respond.

 

For the record, Im a neurology resident at Toronto, I spent a lot of time on psych there...the program IS NOT known to be good, atleast from the residents, who do nothing but complain.

 

1/16 call is common for psych, ANYWHERE, not just toronto, which btw is known for having the HEAVIEST call for psych. I really feel like you get all your info from like one resident who is talking out of his ass.

 

Ppl with bipolar can do anything they want, esp if their disease is controlled.

 

Anyway, whatever.

 

Edit: Also, I just read that you said the residents work 9:30 to 6. Where do you get this crap from?? Not true.

[Beekeeper]

I thought the same thing when I read it, but I didnt really want to hilight it by saying something.

 

Muse--you have a lot to say, and a lot of strong opinions, and the issue is in youre whole "word-diarrhea", a lot of what you say isnt true. Its just you say so MUCH that no one bothers to sift through it and respond.

 

For the record, Im a neurology resident at Toronto, I spent a lot of time on psych there...the program IS NOT known to be good, atleast from the residents, who do nothing but complain.

 

1/16 call is common for psych, ANYWHERE, not just toronto, which btw is known for having the HEAVIEST call for psych. I really feel like you get all your info from like one resident who is talking out of his ass.

 

Ppl with bipolar can do anything they want, esp if their disease is controlled.

 

Anyway, whatever.

 

Edit: Also, I just read that you said the residents work 9:30 to 6. Where do you get this crap from?? Not true.

 

I'm not sure who you talked to but what they said/you heard is very misleading. I'm in PGY-2 at UofT and for six months of my inpatient rotation I worked from 8:45-6:00 every day. Some of my other colleagues put in even longer hours. Sure, your schedule is lighter on outpatients and certain other rotations but the perennial "psych residents do nothing all day" is really infuriating.

 

While the program at UofT has some issues (I would challenge you to find a program that doesn't), it is overall very strong with some of the most diverse supervisors and specialty areas in the country.

 

Final note - the smaller psychiatry programs in the country actually have MORE FREQUENT call than UofT. The advantage of being in such a large program is that the call pool is gigantic and we are able to do 1/16 call. I have colleagues at UWO & McMaster who do 1/7 or even 1/5-1/6 at times because the call pool is so much smaller.

[Renin]

I think you need to balance not wanting to do call with the learning experience you get on call. I think more than 1:5 call sucks. Less than 1:10 is starting to become less conducive for optimizing learning opportunities.

 

I have had wonderful seniors and attending staff who have been able to give me valuable feedback and serve as excellent examples for improving my interview skills and management - and there's no other place where you can get so much 1:1 time - at least at a PGY1 level.

 

ETA: I have stayed until 6 or later on psych rotations before, as a resident and as a medical student - sometimes it's just part of the job, especially if an interesting case rolls in at 4 or if you need to finish up paperwork or dictations from the day.

[polarbear89]

Sorry to bump an old thread but does anyone have information regarding the quality of McGill and ubcs psyc programs?

[thebouque]

 

ETA: I have stayed until 6 or later on psych rotations before, as a resident and as a medical student - sometimes it's just part of the job, especially if an interesting case rolls in at 4 or if you need to finish up paperwork or dictations from the day.

 

Oh wow, until 6? You must've been exhausted

[Renin]

Oh wow, until 6? You must've been exhausted

 

Pffffft. Sarcastic? The surgeons were just leaving, so I don't feel too bad.