Core Clinical Electives

Instructor of record: Laura Kenkel, M.D.
MS4 Site Director(s):  PC How, M.D., Jason Roof, M.D., David Liu, M.D., Joe Sison, M.D.
Instructor(s):  Amy Barnhorst, M.D., P.C. How, M.D., Swati Rao, M.D., Anne McBride, M.D., Jeremy DeMartini, M.D. (Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center)
Jason Roof, M.D. (UC Davis Jail Psychiatry Service)
David Liu, M.D., Debra Kahn, M.D., Emilie Bhe, M.D. (UC Davis Health Emergency Psychiatry)
Course duration: 4-8 weeks
Quarters: I, II, III, IV
Units: 6-12
Location(s):  Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center, Sacramento County Jail Psychiatric Unit, Psychiatric Emergency Room, Sutter Psychiatry**, Heritage Oaks Hospital**    (** limited availability)
Distribution of student's time:  Inpatient care (100%)
Prerequisites: Psychiatry core clerkship and/or consent of clerkship director

Course description:   Acting intern position on a progressive and dynamic inpatient unit. Emphasis is on biological psychiatry, psychopharmacology and psychodynamic aspects appropriate to diagnosis and management of patients with recurrent depression, bipolar disorder, substance disorders, and schizophrenia chronically mentally ill patients. Those who elect to rotate through the Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center will spend four weeks on a busy psychiatric crisis unit where patients are referred from emergency rooms for evaluation and stabilization.  Students will work with an interdisciplinary team to evaluate patients' medical and psychiatric appropriateness for involuntary hospitalization. In addition, they will initiate psychiatric medications and address psychiatric emergencies with appropriate behavioral and pharmacological interventions. Commonly seen disorders in this setting include substance dependence, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and depression.

Enhancement modules:  Combined Medicine/Psychiatry, Cultural Psychiatry, Emergency Psychiatry 

Clerkship objectives

• Improve on psychiatric history-taking and mental status exam
• Improve on ability to treat acutely mentally ill patients
• Learn to efficiently manage patients in a psychiatric inpatient unit
• Effectively interact within a multidisciplinary treatment team

Commonly seen conditions

• Severe major depressive disorder
• Bipolar I disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Suicidality

Grading Criteria: This course is honors/pass/fail.  Honors vs. Pass:  An honors student will exceed expectations in four of the six clinical competencies.

Attendance Policy:  We allow no more than three excused absences in a one month rotation. These three excused absences include vacation leave, sick leave, and any administrative needs for residency interviews.

Contact Information

Hillary Brown
Elective Course Coordinator
Phone (916) 734-2614
Fax (916) 734-3384
E-mail: habrown@ucdavis.edu