Community Psychiatry Advanced Clinical Care

AVAILABLE STARTING AY2026-2027

Department of Psychiatry

  • Course Information

    Course Number: RPSY605

    Prerequisites: Completion of all Phase 2 Clerkships

    Length of Time: 4 Weeks

    Phase Availability: Phase 3

    Credit Type: Physician Assessed Patient Facing (PAPFE) or Open

    Call: No

  • Contact Information

    Program Director: Raunak Khisty, MD

    Other Participating Faculty: Mayurika Pise, MD; Kevin Varghese, DO

    Coordinator/Scheduling: Allison King (aking75@uic.edu)

    Location: Riverside Healthcare (350 N Wall St, Kankakee, IL 60901)

Narrative Description: This four-week advanced patient-facing elective will require fourth year medical students to work with a wide variety of types of patients in the field including children, adolescent, adult and geriatric patients admitted to inpatient psychiatry units with diagnoses including but not limited to major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, ADHD, ODD, reactive attachment disorder, dementia with behavioral disturbances, conduct disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Students will work directly with the chief resident or attending. Students will be required to attend didactic sessions hosted for residents while on this advanced clinical care elective. These didactics cover topics such as psychopharmacology, inpatient psychiatry, and substance abuse. Medical students will be required to participate in morning report throughout the week. Medical students will be supervised and assessed by physicians reporting directly to the attending or chief resident during this experience. Students will be expected to have primary responsibility for a roster of patients during their time on this elective.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Advocate for patients at increased vulnerability in the healthcare system: psychiatric patients, those with addiction.
  2. Utilize advanced communication skills to facilitate the taking of a psychiatric history and manage emotional distress in patients.
  3. Demonstrate knowledge of established and evolving psychiatric conditions and the application of this knowledge to patient care.
  4. Collect, interpret and document information to make clinical decisions about the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric patients.
  5. Provide care that respects the rights of the psychiatric patient while ensuring the patient and public’s safety.

Learning Activities:

The student will actively contribute to patient care approximately 40 hours per week, as part of the inpatient team. Students will carry responsibility for approximately 3-4 patients at a time and follow them throughout their hospital stay. The student will interview patients, attend therapy sessions, present on rounds, write admitting histories, perform physical exams as appropriate, write daily progress notes and mental status exam, and input order which will then be reviewed and co-signed by the senior resident or attending. In addition, the student will work with any needed consulting services, provide handoffs to short-call/night float residents, and write complete discharge summaries. The student will participate in weekly didactic seminars. Students will be supervised by either an attending or a senior resident.

General Scheduling:

Students will work with the inpatient team Monday-Friday with weekly didactics on Thursday afternoons.

Method of Assessment:

Students will be graded on a tiered grading system using the UICOM Clinical Assessment form provided by the school at the conclusion of the course. Feedback from all attendings/residents who worked with the student will be sought in advance of completing the grading form.

Required Reading:

No required reading. Students are expected to read on their patients daily and will be provided resources by course faculty, as needed.

Additional Resources: 

Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 11th Ed.

Miscellaneous Information: None