Residency Training Program

Training Sites

The University of Maryland Medical Center includes two general adult inpatient units, a children's unit and a geriatric psychiatry unit; adult, child and geriatric psychiatry outpatient clinics; adult, child and geriatric day hospitals; community treatment programs; a general and substance abuse consultation-liaison service and an infant study center.

The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital includes four general adult inpatient units; a trauma disorders unit; a child and adolescent service; an outpatient clinic; services for geriatric psychiatry, chemical dependency and chronic psychosis; a general adult day hospital and several specialty day hospitals; community treatment programs and two half-way houses.

The State Mental Hygiene Administration System includes three adult inpatient units at the Walter P. Carter Center, one adult admission unit at the Spring Grove Hospital Center, and the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center with two research units and a research outpatient clinic. Also part of this system are five community mental health clinics, which offer a variety of settings and approaches to patient care; a mobile crisis team; continuous care teams; several outpatient clinics and substance abuse services.

The VA Maryland Health Care System includes one general inpatient unit; a day treatment center; general outpatient clinics; substance abuse services; a post-traumatic stress disorder clinic; and a consultation liaison service.

In the late 1990s, the University of Maryland Department of Psychiatry partnered with the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital System to create a merged general residency training program. The University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt training program has thrived ever since and is one of the largest programs in the country. The program is accredited for a total of 74 residents (14 PGY1’s and 20 each of PGY2’s, PGY3’s and PGY4’s). Find out more about our residency program or apply for admission to the program.

The UM/SEPH program offers a training experience that is diverse, comprehensive and rigorous. The residency program includes rotations at both the University of Maryland Medical Center and at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital. The training program is part of the historic "Maryland Plan," a collaboration between the State of Maryland and the University. In addition, our post-graduate program includes fellowships in child and adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, substance abuse, forensics and consultation-liaison psychiatry.

The core clinical facilities for the psychiatry residency program include the University of Maryland Medical Center, Sheppard Pratt, the Veterans Administration Maryland Health Care System and the State Mental Hygiene Administration System, which includes the Walter P. Carter Center, the Spring Grove Hospital Center and the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

Curriculum

Year One:

4 months of introductory inpatient psychiatry at the Walter P Carter Center (WPCC). Attending physicians are University of Maryland faculty members. Inpatient, outpatient, substance abuse and rehabilitation services in these facilities are closely coordinated so residents experience the full range of patient care. Residents carry no more than six inpatients at a time and receive regular attending supervision from the unit attending as well as an outside supervisor. Call is an average of every 5th night.
3 months of internal medicine at Mercy Medical Center, a private hospital ten minutes from campus. Mercy is closely affiliated with University of Maryland Medical Center's (UMMC) Internal Medicine Department, and our residents rotate along with Medicine interns. Call averages every 5th night.
1 month of adult or pediatric Emergency Room medicine at UMMC. Residents work in shifts, and there is no call.
2 months of neurology - one month of inpatient at UMMC and one month of consults and clinic at Baltimore VA Medical Center (BVAMC). Call during the inpatient month (accompanied by a neurology resident) averages once per week.
1 month of substance abuse training including an intensive outpatient program at the BVAMC. Case conferences and didactic sessions weekly with faculty with addictions expertise supplement the experience. Residents take night call at WPCC during this rotation which averages every 5th night.
1 month of emergency psychiatry as part of the Psychiatric Emergency Service at UMMC. First-year residents work shifts (3 weeks of days and 1 week of nights), and there is no call.
Didactics occur on Thursday when all residents are on campus attending classes and Grand Rounds. This is followed by a resident meeting with lunch for all residents weekly. There is a monthly training directors/resident lunch which gives residents and training directors an opportunity to interact in an informal setting.
Psychiatry didactics include introductory courses in pharmacotherapy, interviewing, psychotherapy, inpatient strategies, neurology, general medicine and psychiatry, neuroscience, emergency psychiatry, substance abuse, professionalism, research methods, cultural psychiatry, teaching medical students, and clinical case conferences. Furthermore, residents participate in the Internal Medicine and Neurology didactic curriculums while assigned to these rotations.

Year Two:

A total of 8 months of advanced training in acute inpatient psychiatry. Each resident rotates for 3 months on a General Adult Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (IPHB) at the University of Maryland Medical Center and for 2 months on the Geriatric Psychiatry Unit at IPHB. Each resident also rotates for 3 months at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital consisting of 6 weeks on the Psychotic Disorders Unit and 6 weeks of a selective rotation (including the option of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry). Residents carry no more than 8 patients at one time. New PGY-2 residents may also rotate through the Spring Grove Hospital. Call averages every 6th night.
3 months of consultation/liaison psychiatry at the BVAMC and UMMC, including the Shock Trauma Center. There is no night call.
1 month of emergency psychiatry as part of the Psychiatric Emergency Service at UMMC. Second-year residents work shifts (3 weeks of nights and 1 week of days), and there is no call.
4 hours per week of outpatient long term psychotherapy.
Residents who begin the program in Year Two will have their curriculum adjusted to meet requirements for Board eligibility.
Didactics include psychopathology, neuropsychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, basic psychodynamics, substance abuse, child development, mental retardation, cultural psychiatry, emergency psychiatry, psychopharmacology, ethics, cognitive therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, family psychoeducation, community psychiatry, personality disorders, eating disorders, research in schizophrenia, psychological testing, and group therapy. A dynamic continuous case conference is also included in the didactics. There is a multidisciplinary case conference in which residents present to the training director or chairman.

Year Three:

12 months of adult and child ambulatory psychiatry at several training sites (all downtown campus centers plus the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital and five community mental health centers) allow for a wide variety of approaches to patient care. Each offers a core experience of long term psychotherapy (a minimum of 6 hours per week total of therapy sessions and supervision with two therapy supervisors), short-term therapy, a group, a family, and a long-term child patient (each with supervision). We focus on the five psychotherapies in which competence is required by the Residency Review Committee of the ACGME: psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, supportive, brief and combined psychotherapy/psychopharmacology. Adult and child diagnostics, psychopharmacology clinics (all with supervision) and clinical case conferences are also provided.
Call consists primarily of back up call only, approximately once per month.
Didactics include observed dynamic psychotherapy, theory and practice of dynamic psychiatry, observed cognitive behavioral therapy, child psychiatry, pharmacotherapy, family therapy, cultural psychiatry, substance abuse, forensic psychiatry, brief psychotherapy, community psychiatry and the severely mentally ill, group therapy, ethics, mock oral boards, and a psychodynamic case conference. Residents may choose long term therapy supervisors from an extensive list of full time and volunteer faculty, who have a wide range of backgrounds and interests.

Year Four:

12 months of electives, with a broad range of approximately 50 choices, including the various services of Sheppard Pratt, UMMS, the State system and State-supported community sites, the VA Medical Center, the four Chief Resident positions, the faculty private practice, the Assertive Community Treatment Team for the homeless mentally ill, eating disorders, infant psychiatry, the forensic system, and a student health service. Elective choices in research include neuroscience, schizophrenia, pharmacology, and services delivery.
Either: (a) a 3-month part-time forensic psychiatry rotation (2 half-days a week) or (b) a one- or two-month full-time forensic psychiatry rotation.
Continuing longitudinal experiences in long term psychotherapy and medication management.
Call consists primarily of back up call only, approximately once per month.
Didactics include psychiatric careers, hypnosis, substance abuse, genetics, advances in biologic and psychosocial psychiatry, history of psychiatry, advanced psychopharmacology, advanced cultural psychiatry, supportive therapy, disaster psychiatry, observed psychodynamic psychotherapy, and board preparation (including mock boards).
All residents must demonstrate competency in evaluating the scientific literature for evidence-based practice. Some residents choose to participate in research projects, write or co-write articles submitted for publication, and frequently present at national meetings.

Research Track

We also offer a 5-year research track experience with mentorship from world-class researchers.

Other Training Experiences

Experience in group dynamics throughout the program ensures residents are well-versed in groups and group therapy. Each year the Department sponsors a unique weekend group experience of structured large and small group meetings. Also, weekly group meetings for interested residents within a PGY year provide an invaluable lesson in group dynamics as well as peer support. In the formal curriculum, each resident follows inpatient and outpatient groups, and several didactic courses on groups are presented.
A day-long cultural diversity retreat is also provided.
A five-year residency research track is available on a competitive basis for residents who want a career in research.