Psychiatry

Course Director
Melanie Grubisha, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
grubisham@upmc.edu

Course Director
Shelly Kucherer, MD 
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
kucherersa2@upmc.edu

Course Description

This course introduces students to the underlying pathophysiology and phenomenology of psychiatric disorders, presenting basic approaches to assessment and management, to prepare them for clinical rotations.

Course Objectives​

1. Describe and apply the classification scheme used to categorize psychiatric illness (DSM-5)
2. Recognize how behavioral health symptoms and syndromes derive from specific structural and functional disruptions in the brain
3. Describe ways that structural racism has impacted diagnosis, rates and course of illness, and prognosis in psychiatric illness
4. Describe how adverse childhood experiences impact the course of illness and prognosis of psychiatric disorders
5. Describe epidemiology and etiology of common disorders
6. Predict course of disease and recommend potential treatment options
7. Identify risk factors for suicide or violence, and basic management (including involuntary commitment) for patients that pose a danger to themselves or others
8. Assess a psychiatric patient and recognize life threatening side effects of psychiatric medications and substance use concerns
9. Employ screening questions to evaluate patients for suicidal and homicidal behavior, alcohol and drug use, psychosis, anxiety disorders, mood disorders eating disorders, trauma and mental status
10. Recognize the components of a full mental status examination
11. Distinguish how a mental status exam for a child would be different than an adult mental status exam
12. Recommend treatment options for uncomplicated forms of depression and anxiety disorders
13. Recommend treatment options for common child psychiatric disorders
14. Develop the skills to conduct an empathic psychiatric interview that is culturally sensitive
15. Demonstrate ways in which physicians and other health care providers can work as a team to help patients cope with psychiatric symptoms, manage quality of life, and enhance wellness
16. Recognize/Identify comorbidity and describe possible negative outcomes for insufficient treatment
17. Recognize how neurobiological etiologies play a critical role in psychiatric disorders
18. Enumerate some of the social, emotional, political and economic impacts of mental illness on individuals, families, communities, and US society

Educational Methods​

• Case-based learning
• Small group workshops
• Patient presentations
• Self-study
• Review sessions
• Weekly assessments (Formative, Summative)

Assessment

Assessment for this course is based on a cumulative, graded Summative exam.

Requests for excused absences should be submitted via Elentra. Unexcused absences may result in grading penalties as outlined in the Policy on Absence and Attendance.