My psychiatry rotation was completed at Queens Hospital Center. I enjoyed being able to return to this hospital and experience a different patient population. Going into this rotation, my previous exams had identified psychiatry as a weaker testing subject for me so I was eager to learn more through out the rotation and through my studies. At later testing, I was able to see my score in this subject tremendously improve. I spent the 5 weeks of this rotation in CPEP, where I was able to go to rounds, accompany providers for consults in the medical ER, observe patients in the psychiatric ER, etc.

This rotation was different from my previous rotations in that there was no physical exam and it was focused on patient history and collateral information. From this rotation I learned the importance of collecting collateral information in order to help patient the whole picture and fill in missing blanks in attempt to better understand what has been going on with the patient.

I was able to get a lot of practice writing different types of notes including progress notes, PES notes, disposition notes, discharge notes and admission notes. The style for writing a psychiatric note differs from previous HPI writing and I was glad to be exposed to and learn to write these types of notes. I was able to receive feedback on my notes to know where I can improve and use that on the next note I would write.

Although procedures were limited, this rotation emphasized the importance of mental status exam. It had been a while since I had performed a full mental status exam so this served as a good reminder to help instill the different parts of a mental status exam in my mind. Since this was my final rotation I believe this was a great way to end it. I enjoyed being exposed to things I was not used to. I was glad to be able to improve on my patient interviewing and note writing for this final rotation and I will be sure to carry the feedback I received with me to improve my work.