Training Programs
At Stony Brook Medicine we offer three psychiatry residency training options; a traditional four-year adult psychiatry training program, a five-year integrated training program that combines training in adult, child, and adolescent psychiatry, and a four-year research track. Five adult psychiatry training positions, two integrated child, adolescent and adult training positions, and one research track position are available per year. If desired, applicants can apply to all training programs, and then rank each program separately.
An important feature of our training programs is the opportunity to develop close collaborative relationships with faculty members. All clinical work is closely supervised by faculty members. We believe that this is the key to learning during residency training. Additionally, all residents receive a faculty mentor that they meet with regularly for the duration of their training.
Adult Psychiatry Training:
PGY 1
The distribution of residents among the post-graduate years may change from year to year; however, we typically have eight physicians training in Psychiatry at the PGY-1 level. The first year of residency (internship) consists of four months of Internal Medicine, two months of Neurology, four months of Psychiatry divided between the Adult Inpatient Psychiatry unit and Emergency Psychiatry.
The emphasis in the first year is on the rapid acquisition of the clinical skills that are necessary to successfully complete residency training in psychiatry. Training in medicine and neurology facilitates the resident's ability to assess acutely and chronically ill medical patients, develop a rational differential diagnosis, and learn to treat the variety of medical and neurologic conditions that are typically encountered in a large tertiary care medical center. Training in psychiatry allows the resident to become familiar with the range of psychiatric conditions treated on the inpatient service and the emergency service.
The four months of Internal Medicine are divided between acute inpatient medical services at Stony Brook Medicine and the Northport Veterans Administration Medical Center. Residents are fully integrated members of the medical team with clinical and teaching responsibilities. Residents work six days each week.
The Neurology rotation also occurs at the Northport Veterans Administration Medical Center. Because this is such a short (2 month) rotation, residents may not take any vacation time. This rotation consists of both inpatient and outpatient experiences.
The Psychiatry Inpatient rotation is at Stony Brook Medicine and includes training and experience utilizing Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). The Psychiatric Emergency rotation is at Stony Brook Medicine’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) and consists of one month of daytime duty and one month of night shift duty.
When rotating on Psychiatry and Neurology, residents work on average two, 12-hour weekend shifts a month in CPEP.
PGY 2
There are typically eight residents. All rotations are completed at Stony Brook Medicine. The typical schedule consists of three months of Inpatient Psychiatry, two months of inpatient Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, two months of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, two months of Emergency Psychiatry, one month of Addiction Psychiatry, one month of Geriatric Psychiatry, and one month of Elective. The clinical program is designed so that residents can achieve competence in all aspects of hospital-based psychiatry. Residents receive intensive and extensive clinical exposure to a broad range of psychiatric conditions and acute psychiatric treatments.
On average residents work two weekend shifts a month. Either an 8-hour consultation-liaison shift or a 12-hour CPEP shift.
PGY 3
There are typically eight residents. The focus is on outpatient psychiatry. Residents spend 12 months caring for patients in the Outpatient Psychiatry Department located at Putnam Hall on the campus of Stony Brook University. There is also an outpatient location in Commack, NY (20 minutes West of Stony Brook) that is an optional experience. Residents become adept at diagnostic assessment and treatment planning for ambulatory patients with straightforward as well as complex psychiatric conditions. The acquisition of assessment for and treatment with psychotherapy is emphasized. Special emphasis is given to combining psychotherapy with psychopharmacologic treatment. In addition to Stony Brook psychiatry faculty supervision, each resident has separate psychotherapy supervisors for psychodynamic psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Each new PGY 3 resident "inherits" an existing practice of active and stable patients and can add to the patient roster each week as there is an ever-present flow of new referrals to the Outpatient Clinic. As with all of our clinical services, we see a very diverse group of patients. Our residents find the Outpatient year both challenging and extremely rewarding. The applicability of this experience to the practice of psychiatry following residency is obvious. All clinical work is supervised by full-time and voluntary community-based psychiatrists with academic appointments. Our outpatient department collaborates with primary care physicians at Stony Brook Medicine using an integrated care model of practice. Outpatient residents also treat integrated care patients with supervision.
There are no weekend or holiday calls. However, there is 5-hour weekday coverage of inpatient units in the evenings divided amongst the PGY-3s for the year.
PGY 4
There are usually between four to six residents. Several senior residents serve as Chief Resident, carrying out administrative and educational responsibilities. The fourth year consists of four months of hospital-based junior attending rotations. Two months of Inpatient Adult Psychiatry, 1 month of Emergency Psychiatry and 1 month of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. The fourth-year resident functions as a team leader on the service, providing supervision and education for junior residents as well as medical students. Residents frequently rotate at Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center for Forensic Psychiatry and Community Psychiatry. Other electives include, Outpatient Psychotherapy, outpatient psychiatry at Stony Brook University Campus Counseling Center, Neuromodulation (outpatient Transcranial Magnetic Stimulant and intra-nasal ketamine), Inpatient Addiction Psychiatry at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, and research. Residents maintain a caseload of patients from their PGY-3 year to gain experience treating patients over a longer period of time. There is ample time for Fellowship and practice opportunity interviews during the fourth year.
There are no weekend or holiday calls. PGY-4 residents rotate in covering the 5-hour Monday evening shift for the inpatient psychiatry units (approximately 1 shift per month).
Integrated Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatry Training:
This unique training opportunity combines post-graduate training in adult, child and adolescent psychiatry in an integrated 5-year program. Trainees complete a total of five years of training that fulfills both adult psychiatry as well as child and adolescent psychiatry training program requirements. Acceptance into this program as a first-year resident physician entails automatic acceptance into the child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship program beginning in the fourth post-graduate year (as long as the trainee remains in good standing). For the first three years of post-graduate training, trainee’s complete adult psychiatry residency requirements and during the last two years fulfill child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship requirements. The first three years follows the same basic outline described above for the adult psychiatry training program, but with an early focus on working with children, adolescents, and their families. Early exposure to the pediatric population is provided during rotations on pediatric medicine and pediatric neurology during the first year of post-graduate training. Early mentorship by child and adolescent psychiatry faculty is also provided. During the second year of training, opportunities to work with the pediatric population include providing consultation liaison psychiatric services to patients on our inpatient pediatric units, rotating on the child inpatient psychiatric unit, as well as elective opportunities in outpatient child & adolescent psychiatry or adolescent medicine. During the trainees’ third year, they have the opportunity to evaluate and treat child and adolescent outpatients in addition to adult psychiatry outpatients. The program accommodates 2 positions per year. Interested applicants should apply specifically to the Integrated Adult and Child Psychiatry Residency Training Program at Stony Brook Medicine.
Research Track:
The resident with a strong interest in developing an academic/research career may choose to apply to our research track. This track will alter the typical sequence of residency training, as follows:
PGY-1, 2 months of dedicated research time in May and June
PGY-2, 3 months of dedicated research time in July, August, and September. Together with the PGY-1 time, the resident will have 5 full months of contiguous, dedicated research.
PGY-3, 12 months contiguous outpatient psychiatry
PGY-4, 12 months of dedicated research time. During that year, the resident will be encouraged to apply for grants to fund future research, placing the resident in a good position to pursue an academic career after graduation.
The resident on the research track will also be afforded the following resources to support their research endeavors:
Assigned faculty research mentor, chosen based on mutual interests
Total of $50,000 funding over 4 years provided by the department for research expenditures
Opportunity for Chief Resident of Research leadership role in PGY-3 or PGY-4
Opportunity to apply for an additional, competitive 1-year departmental pilot grant of $20,000 during PGY-4.