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Fourth-Year Electives

The fourth-year curriculum at the University of Kansas School of Medicine gives students the chance to personalize their educational experience. Read more about this unique training opportunity online at the University of Kansas School of Medicine Office of Medical Education.

Here are the fourth-year electives offered by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

PYCH 911 Child Psychiatry

  • Normal and abnormal growth and development
  • Clinical assessment of children and early adolescents
  • Interview and play therapy
  • Family counseling
  • Group work with parents

Students will be evaluated by faculty and resident supervisors on the basis of their clinical performance. This elective is based at The University of Kansas Health System Marillac Campus.

PYCH 914 Psychiatry in Medicine and Surgery

  • Gain experience with psychiatric consultations to the medicine and surgery services
  • Evaluate psychiatric problems in medical and surgical inpatients

As part of this elective, students will demonstrate effective interview technique and explain the basis for diagnosis and management. Supervisors will evaluate students' clinical skills.

The course is offered in Modules I-XII. Prerequisite: PYCH 955.

PYCH 916 Introduction to Psychotherapy
This elective provides medical students with a strong introduction to abnormal and clinical psychology. The goal of this rotation is to strengthen foundational medical knowledge and understanding of behavioral sciences as they relate to psychiatric practice.

Students participate in individual and group psychotherapy sessions in outpatient and inpatient settings, including the outpatient psychotherapy clinic, inpatient psychiatry and consultation-liaison. Patients fall across a continuum of functional strata and psychiatric and medical comorbidities.

These sessions include cognitive-behavioral and related treatments for a range of psychiatric disorders such as:

  • Mood disorders
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Personality disorders
  • Substance use disorders
  • Schizophrenia-spectrum disorders

Under supervision and working with a multidisciplinary team, students deliver counseling and psychotherapy interventions to address treatment goals such as:

  • Suicide prevention/safety planning
  • Substance abuse counseling
  • Development of coping skills
  • Treatment planning

During this training experience, students also receive exposure to and practice with psychometric assessments such as cognitive assessment and psychodiagnostic assessment in the context of psychiatric practice.

As a result of completing this elective, students will have a broad, comprehensive introduction to the more commonly used approaches to psychotherapy, psychological assessment and clinical health psychology.

PYCH 918 Inpatient Psychiatry
As part of this elective, students gain advanced full-time experience in hospital treatment. It includes training in areas such as individual and milieu therapy and chemotherapy.

Students will function as a first-year resident as long as they are able to assume the required responsibilities of that position. Those who elect this module will be evaluated by faculty supervisors on the basis of their clinical performance and the growth of their psychiatric knowledge during the module.

This elective is offered in Modules I-XII. Prerequisite: PYCH 955.

PYCH 920 Research in Psychiatry
In this elective, students execute an approved psychiatric research project in an area of special interest while under the supervision of a faculty with professional interest and expertise in the chosen topic of study. Students write a paper or present a seminar reporting on the investigation and findings.

This elective is offered in Modules I-XII. Prerequisite: PYCH 955.

Fourth-year Electives faculty and staff

Shilpa Sachdeva, M.D.
Program Director
University of Kansas Medical Center
3901 Rainbow Boulevard
G047C Olathe Pavilion
Kansas City, Kansas 66160
ssachdeva@kumc.edu

William Gabrielli, Jr., M.D., Ph.D.
Program Co-Director
University of Kansas Medical Center
3901 Rainbow Boulevard
1005 Olathe Pavilion
Kansas City, Kansas 66160
wgabriel@kumc.edu

Charlotte Iannaci
Program Administrator
University of Kansas Medical Center
3901 Rainbow Boulevard
1013E Olathe Pavilion
Kansas City, Kansas 66160
913-588-6428
ciannaci@kumc.edu



Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

University of Kansas Medical Center
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Mailstop 4015
3901 Rainbow Boulevard
Kansas City, KS 66160
Phone: 913-588-6400
Fax: 913-588-6414