Psychiatry Residency

Hi everyone! My name is Tom. My schedule varies a bit based on whatever rotation I am on. On inpatient psychiatry, I typically walk to work from my nearby apartment and get to the hospital a bit before 7:45 so that I can get sign out from the night float resident. There are four teams on inpatient adult psychiatry at Carilion. Each team typically has an attending, a resident, a social worker, and usually a medical student. We round as a team on our patients (usually each team has 6-9 patients) and typically finish by mid-morning. The rest of the day is filled with placing orders, writing progress notes, handling any new admissions, and checking up on patients throughout the day. If I'm not on short call (the 5pm-8pm shift), the workday concludes around 4:45 PM when we sign out our patients to the short call provider.  Once I get home, I like to take a brief power nap and then head to the gym or go for a walk on the greenway or a nearby hike. If I'm feeling ambitious, I might study a bit in the evening or relax at home otherwise. On the weekends, I like to take advantage of all that the Roanoke area has to offer including museums, mountain hiking, minor league sports, restaurants, Virginia Tech football games, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and nearby Smith Mountain Lake. 

Hello everyone! My name is Amin Syed.  After intern year, the second year of our program dives deeper into training with subspecialities of psychiatry such as consult-liaison, child & adolescent, geriatrics, and return to adult inpatient psychiatry. We also get to rotate on ED psychiatry, ambulatory VA rotations (outpatient clinics), and opportunity to work at Catawba which is our state hospital roughly 25 mins away from CRMH. Last but certainly not the least, we have 1-2 night float rotations where we get to take care of adult and child patients at our inpatient psychiatric unit. I am currently on my ambulatory VA outpatient rotation where my day begins with two intakes in the morning starting at 8:30 am followed by walk-in clinic for scheduled follow ups (in person and tele-health). In between seeing patients, I get to staff my cases with attendings and coordinate care with nurses & other staff members. After the day ends at 4:30 pm, I am free for the rest of the day! I like to spend my time outside of work by going on walks, spending time with friends, exploring the downtown area in Roanoke, and catching up on whatever material I need to focus on for the day. There is a steep learning curve that you go through during your second year of training, and it made me become much more confident with interviewing and managing patients on my own. Despite all the challenges I have faced thus far during my medical training, getting the privilege to practice medicine and taking care of patients has been an eye-opening experience. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time, and I am looking forward to what PGY-3 brings! 

Hello, My name is Akhil Pola. The third year of residency is a whole year of outpatient clinics. You get to experience the ambulatory setting. All residents are at multiple sites throughout the week. They include Carilion Clinic Rehab, Tanglewood, NRV Radford, and the Salem VA Medical Center. For some, this experience can help them figure path of their future clinical practice. Whether it be inpatient, outpatient, or a combination of both. Initially, I was ambivalent about the ambulatory setting but as time progressed, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to learn a lot and most importantly, I was able to establish a strong therapeutic relationship with my patients because of the continuity of these clinics. Most of my days started at 8 AM and were usually done by 5 PM and there was an hour for lunch. The work was manageable for the most part. In the outpatient setting, I was able to develop a sense of autonomy as I slowly progressed through the year. The attending physician was always available either through direct or indirect supervision and there was dedicated time to discuss the cases with the supervising physician. The third year is the perfect time to practice psychotherapy and you can have one-hour slots just for therapy. I found a connection to psychodynamic psychotherapy and my supervisors have supported me immensely giving me valuable feedback on my cases. I have achieved professional and personal growth which has given me a lot of confidence as my training is coming to an end.