The relatively small size of the program allows each senior residents to gain supervisory and administrative experience that is invaluable in academic, private practice or community psychiatry. Fourth year residents also continue to follow their psychotherapy patients in the outpatient clinic. Considerable time during the fourth year consists of electives which the residents tailor to their own interests, with the approval of the Residency Training Committee. Popular electives include rotations in student mental health, research, community mental health, behavioral medicine, AIDS clinic, forensics and geriatrics. The University of Virginia Departments of Psychiatric Medicine and Internal Medicine offer an accredited five year combined program in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry.
Residents receive training in each specialty in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
The training program emphasizes integrated evaluation and treatment of patients with co-morbid medical and psychiatric conditions, the behavioral management of the medically and the neurological basis of severe mental illness. A combined program in psychiatry and neurology can be arranged. We offer a one-year accredited geriatric psychiatry residency following completion of a general psychiatry residency. The training program includes didactic teaching, clinical experience in a variety of settings and a focussed research experience. Clinical training settings include an inpatient unit, outpatient clinics, nursing homes and retirement villages.