Final Blog Challenge - Amber Latona

For this blog challenge, I am choosing a career as a Psychiatrist. 

     Psychiatrists are physicians who practice psychiatry which is the medical specialty devoted to the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders. This career requires intense understanding of the body's functions and the complex relationship between emotional illnesses. The psychiatrist is otherwise known as the mental health professional best qualified to distinguish between physical and physiological causes of mental and physical distress.
     A study in 2015 estimated that approximately 43 Million Americans (1 in 5) have experienced a serious mental illness in a given year. Did you know that...
     1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia?
     2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder?
     6.9% of adults in the U.S. had at least one major depressive episode in the past year?
     18.1% of adults in the U.S. have experienced a form of an anxiety disorder?
 
     Among the 20 million adults in the U.S. who struggle with substance abuse, 40% of those adults had a co-occurring mental illness.
     Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14. However, despite effective treatment, there are long delays between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.
     Mental illness is the third most common cause of hospitalization in the U.S. for both youth and adults.
     Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., the third leading cause of death for people aged 10-24, and the second leading cause of death for people aged 15-24.


     Based on the statistics above, mental illness is a major problem in the U.S., and also worldwide. Often, there is a stigma surrounding mental illness which can be caused by many factors.

     The reason I chose this career is because 1) I wish to end the stigma surrounding mental illness 2) I live with mental illness 3) I enjoy learning about medicine and the effects it has on the body 4) I have a passion for helping others.
     Also, I believe that psychiatry plays a significant role in links between the genome, the cell, cellular networks, and clinical symptoms.  Sitting at the intersection of a number of fields, psychiatry brings scientists, clinicians, patients, families and the public together to improve the well-being and mental health of people. 

    Penn State Hershey Medical Center is a participating member of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and all applicants for first-year positions must register with this program.  Most programs require a completed NRMP application form, Medical Student Performance Evaluation (formerly Dean's letter) and transcript. and reference letters for application.  Most residency (and some fellowship) programs participate in ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service administered by the Associate of American Medical Colleges).

    Penn State Hershey offers a Psychiatry degree through their Psychiatry program which is a fully accredited, two-year fellowship training program in child psychiatry. The heart of the training program is a two year integrated didactic curriculum that covers a variety of topics in detail.  These topics include:

• Child Development
• Developmental Psychopathology
• Pediatric Psychopharmacology
• Psychotherapies such as Family Therapy, Behavior Therapy, Dynamic Therapy, and Cognitive Therapy. 
• Extended seminars are  held on a wide range of additional topics such as Administration in Child Psychiatry, Pediatric Neuropsychiatry, and Child Advocacy. 

Required Clinical Rotations

First Year

During the first year, clinical rotations are varied. The outpatient rotations are devoted to:

• Pediatric Neurology Clinic
• Eating Disorder Partial Hospitalization Program
• CBT Group 
• ADHD Clinic
• Pediatric Consultation Liaison
• Anxiety Clinic
• Mood Disorder Clinic
• Autism Spectrum Clinic

First year training also includes a 6 month rotation at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute Child Inpatient Unit (a collaboration between Hershey Medical Center and Pinnacle Health).

Second Year

The second year consists of two six-month rotations through through various community child psychiatry sites, outpatient clinics and elective rotations. These include:

• Schools
• Lincoln Intermediate Unit rotation (school based evaluations)
• Community psychiatry centers
• Forensic child psychiatry rotation
• Substance abuse treatment center
• ASD school/clinics
• Electives
• Longitudinal Clinic
• Child Consultation Clinic
• Eating Disorder Outpatient Clinic
• Scholarly activity rotation
• Family therapy
• Eating disorder outpatient
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Clinic
• Sleep Clinic
• Long-term Psychodynamic Clinic
• Mood Disorder Clinic
• ADHD Clinic

     The UC Davis Internal Medicine/Psychiatry (IMP) Residency is a five year program in which residents complete requirements for both internal medicine and psychiatric training.  At the end of the five years, graduates are board-eligible in both specialties and expertly trained in how to integrate medical and psychiatric care.

     During the course of this training, UC Davis IMP residents attend weekly educational sessions on integrated care and receive mentorship and supervision by several of our dually-trained faculty. They work closely with residents and faculty in the categorical Internal Medicine and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Departments, both of which are highly regarded ACGME-accredited programs. In addition to the core psychiatric and internal medicine training, UC Davis IMP residents work in three different integrated ambulatory clinics and participate in telepsychiatry consultation.

     PGY-1 General Psychiatry application information:

• Applications for PGY-1 positions will be accepted through ERAS beginning September 2015.
• Three letters of recommendation, including at least one from a psychiatrist familiar with your work
• Medical school transcript
• USMLE or COMLEX scores
• Your medical school Dean of Student Affairs will send a Dean's letter via ERAS on or after October.  Please confirm this with your school.

Admission to Harvard Medical School is very selective. 

The Faculty of Medicine accepts applications from current students in good standing and graduates of accredited colleges who:

• Present evidence that their intellectual and personal credentials are of such quality as to predict success in the study and practice of medicine.
• Demonstrate aptitude in the biological and physical sciences during their undergraduate years, but not to the exclusion of the humanities and social sciences.(A study at Harvard Medical School has shown that students are successful in their medical studies regardless of undergraduate concentration, providing that they have had adequate science preparation. Students are urged to strive for a balanced and liberal education rather than specialized training. No preference is given to applicants who have majored in the sciences over those who have majored in the humanities.)
• Supplemented their education with at least one year of college or university training in the United States or Canada if they have completed academic work outside the United States or Canada. (Foreign students who do not have a baccalaureate or advanced degree from an institution in the United States or Canada are rarely accepted for admission.)

Other requirements to enter Harvard Medical School Include:

-A completed full year of Biology

-All applicants must complete a two year chemistry sequence that covers inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry

-A completed full year of physics

-Lab Experience

-Computational Skills/Mathematics

Analytical and writing skills/Expository Writing

• average GPA: 3.8
• average MCAT scores were:

Verbal-11
Physical Science-12.41
Biological Science-12.67

Course and Examination Requirements for the MD Degree:

Fundamentals of Medicine Course Requirements

Year I
IN555.0 Introduction to the Profession
IN751.0 The Molecular and Cellular Basis of Medicine
IN753.0 The Human Body
IN755.0 Human Genetics
IN759M.J Patient-Doctor I
SM750.0 Introduction to Social Medicine and Global Health
AC511.0 Clinical Epidemiology and Population Health
HC750.0 Introduction to Health Care Policy
SIM 501 Scholarship in Medicine (SIM)*
PIC 503 Physician in Community (PIC)*
IN752.0 Integrated Human Physiology
IN754.0 Immunology, Microbiology & Pathology
MA701.0 Medical Ethics and Professionalism

Year II
IN757.0 Human Systems
IN731.0 Human Development
PS700M.J Psychopathology & Introduction to Clinical Psychiatry
IN761.M Patient-Doctor II

Principal Clinical Experience (PCE) Course Requirements

Year III
Medicine I (12 weeks)
Surgery (12 weeks)
Obstetrics and Gynecology (6 weeks)
Pediatrics (6 weeks)
Neurology (4 weeks)
Psychiatry (4 weeks)
Radiology (4 weeks)
Patient-Doctor III (longitudinal)
Primary Care Clerkship (longitudinal)
Principal Clinical Experience course (longitudinal)

Advanced Experiences in Clinical Medicine and Basic Sciences Course Requirements

Year IV or final year
Medicine II or Advanced Pediatrics (4 weeks) [must be completed by March of Year IV]. A second Subinternship in a surgically-oriented discipline is highly recommended but not required.
Clinical Elective (CE) (8 weeks)
Unspecified (CE or nonclinical elective [NCE]) (20 weeks)

Beginning with the advanced electives (Year IV), full-time status requires a minimum of twelve-week equivalents (generally, this is three 4-week equivalent clerkships) per semester. 

NB: students are limited to no more than two clinical electives representing the same course in the same medical/surgical discipline. Students who choose to take more than two will not receive additional academic credit.

Examination Requirements for Graduation

The following examinations must be passed to receive the MD degree:
HMS Patient-Doctor II Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) [Year II]
HMS Comprehensive Examination [June following PCE]
United States Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE):* Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK), and Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS)
*USMLE examinations are scheduled by, and are entirely the responsibility of, the individual student.

USMLE Step 1

Students are required to take USMLE Step 1 prior to entering the Principal Clinical Experience. Students who are unable to complete this requirement must obtain prior approval from their Society Master or Associate Master and the Office for Advising Resources. Students entering a PhD program after Year II are required to take Step 1 prior to starting their PhD.

USMLE Step 2 - Clinical Knowledge and Clinical Skills

Students are required to pass both parts of Step 2 in order to graduate. Because of limitations in the availability of test slots and the extended reporting timeline for Step 2 test results, students are required to complete Step 2 Clinical Skills by November 1 and Step 2 Clinical Knowledge by December 31 of their final year. Test scores must be reported to the HMS Registrar in order to receive an MD degree. If a student's passing scores are not reported to the HMS Registrar before graduation, that student will not receive an MD degree at graduation. Because failure to receive an MD degree will have an impact on a student¡¦s ability to start postgraduate training, the Academic Societies require students to confirm their test schedules as they prepare the Dean's Letter; failure to schedule the test before the HMS deadline will be noted in the Dean¡¦s Letter. To learn more about resources available to help with study strategies, exam taking, etc., see Section 3.03, Office of Advising Resources.