Erie County Medical Center maintains the largest acute care psychiatric program in the region, with 132 inpatient psychiatry beds. There are four specialized treatment units — first break psychosis, psychotic disorders, geriatric and psychiatric intensive care — along with three general adult units.
Interns gain substantial experience working with an interdisciplinary team (nurses, mental health counselors, social workers, attending psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners), along with other learners (medical students and psychiatry residents) to provide psychological assessment, behavioral planning and therapeutic interventions on the inpatient units. Interns will learn about the psychological consultation role in an acute inpatient service, along with opportunities to become embedded in specific treatment teams. Interns may gain substantial experience in providing “milieu therapy.” Interns are responsible for running a psychological consultation service for inpatient psychiatry, including monthly rotating responsibility as the designee for incoming consult requests. Most psychological evaluations are brief and target providing diagnostic clarity, however, there are opportunities for more in-depth evaluations. Interns will work with and provide feedback with attending psychiatrists for these evaluations. Interns may also have an opportunity to learn to administer and code Rorschach – Exner Comprehensive System.
Given that our site is an acute inpatient setting, therapeutic interventions will primarily be brief in focus, though there may be opportunities to provide brief trauma treatment.
Interns will gain experience working with and supervising doctoral-level practicum students (usually two on site), including assisting in recruitment and interviewing new students. Other opportunities may include providing educational programming to hospital staff (e.g., monthly “lunch and learns”), quality improvement projects, and research.