Our versatile five-year Internal Medicine/Psychiatry residency leads to dual board certification in both specialties. The training program is approved by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Sponsored jointly by the Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, both residency programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Residents are fully integrated into both the Internal Medicine Residency Program and the Psychiatry Residency Program.  

We believe a sound grounding in both internal medicine and psychiatry can be extremely valuable in delivering care to people with psychiatric illnesses. This dual training also can often provide better management of general medical patients.

Clinical opportunities for integrating internal medicine and psychiatry

Every patient encounter is an opportunity to integrate internal medicine and psychiatry! During training, residents will work with dually trained faculty who practice in various settings. Residents also have several unique clinical opportunities to integrate the practice of internal medicine and psychiatry under the supervision of dually trained faculty, including:

• Persistent pain management clinic
• Psychiatric evaluations and management of organ transplant candidates
• Internal medicine “med-psych” continuity clinic for patients with significant psychiatric comorbidity
• Genetics clinic

Didactics

Throughout their five years of training, residents participate in a variety of formalized didactics through the internal medicine and psychiatry residency programs.

All didactic sessions are considered protected time, meaning you are not responsible for clinical duties during these sessions. Didactics consist of:

• Traditional lecture-style didactics
• Small group discussions
• Flipped-classroom sessions
• Hands-on simulation lab experiences
• Morning report style case conferences
• Board review
• Ethics case conferences
• Journal clubs

In addition, our residents meet monthly along with program faculty for case presentations, journal clubs, and topics of specific interest to the integrated practice of internal medicine and psychiatry.

For more details about the educational experience we offer, visit our program's training schedule page.

The evaluation process
Feedback
Regular verbal feedback is an integral part of the educational experience at all levels of training. Formal online evaluations are completed by the responsible supervising attendings, nurses, social workers and medical students at the conclusion of each rotation or on a quarterly basis.

PRITE and ITE
During each year of training, all residents are required to take the Psychiatry Resident in Training Examination (PRITE) and the Internal Medicine In-Training-Examination (ITE).

Program directors' review
Residents meet with both the Internal Medicine and Psychiatry program directors twice each year to review their progress. These meetings include going over evaluations as well as PRITE and ITE scores, and provide an opportunity to assess the trainee’s caseload and discuss any concerns.

Medical student assessments
Our residents actively participate in the education and evaluation of medical students whom they have supervised and taught on the clinical services. In turn, the medical students provide anonymous written feedback about the residents' effectiveness as teachers and psychiatrists/physicians.

Program Leadership
Laura H. Heckert, M.D., Program Director
Angela K. Mayorga, M.D., Program Co-Director
Stacy E. Buckley, Residency Coordinator
sbuckley2@kumc.edu
913-588-6412