A day in the life of a PGY-2 psychiatry resident

A typical day in a life of a PGY-2 Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences resident varies, depending upon the rotation. For example, a resident might be at the inpatient psychiatry unit at university hospital. They start the day with pre-rounding at around 8:00 a.m., then they go through the patient charts, marking any changes and will then see the patients assigned to them. They typically carry around eight patients as a PGY-2 resident. After pre-rounding, they go to the treatment team meeting at 9:00 a.m. The treatment team is made of physicians, residents, nurses, social workers, therapists and medical students. They go through each patient on the unit, share information, discuss any critical issues and formulate a plan for the patient. They then round with the attending and medical students. After rounding, they work on the documentation, orders and obtain collateral information. Depending on the day, they have different activities in the afternoon, which includes didactics, outpatient clinic or grand rounds. After that, they return to their unit and finish any pending work. The work day is usually done by 5:00 p.m.

Weekend days are more relaxed. Residents feel as if they have more freedom, in the sense of when they want to start their day, as there are no treatment meetings on the weekends. Usually, they start the day a little early, round with the attending and they get done fairly early. Regardless of what day of the week it is, the day is very relaxed. There is ample support from other staff, students and attending themselves. There is a lot of learning, as well as teaching (to the medical students). They usually see very sick patients on the inpatient unit and they have an immense sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. 

Overall, residents comment that they are extremely happy that they chose this program to train in psychiatry. It offers excellent training, great work-life balance and is located in an amazing city.