Psychiatry Clerkship Course

Create a comprehensive psychiatry course designed to help a medical student succeed during their psychiatry clinical rotation and perform well on shelf-style/end-of-rotation exams and clinical evaluations.

Audience: Medical students completing a psychiatry clerkship, at the clinical/medical student level. Assume the learner has foundational knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology but needs to apply that knowledge to real clinical scenarios.

Organize the course around the most commonly encountered psychiatric conditions and the highest-yield concepts for medical students. For each disorder, teach:

DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria and essential diagnostic features Typical presentation, epidemiology, risk factors, and clinical course Key history questions and physical/Mental Status Exam findings High-yield differential diagnoses and how to distinguish common look-alikes First-line and alternative treatments, including psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy Mechanism of action for major medication classes Important adverse effects, contraindications, drug interactions, and monitoring Black box warnings and major safety considerations When to consult psychiatry or escalate care Common exam traps and high-yield clinical pearls

Cover these major areas:

Depressive disorders Bipolar and related disorders Anxiety disorders Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders Trauma- and stressor-related disorders Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders Substance-related and addictive disorders Neurodevelopmental disorders Neurocognitive disorders Personality disorders Eating disorders Somatic symptom and related disorders Sleep-wake disorders Psychiatric emergencies and crisis management Suicide and homicide/violence risk assessment

Emphasize high-yield differentiators that commonly appear on medical student exams and in clinical practice, including:

Major depressive disorder vs. bipolar depression Bipolar I vs. Bipolar II vs. cyclothymic disorder Mania vs. hypomania Schizophrenia vs. schizophreniform disorder vs. brief psychotic disorder vs. schizoaffective disorder Psychotic disorder vs. substance/medication-induced psychosis Delirium vs. major neurocognitive disorder/dementia Delirium vs. depression OCD vs. obsessive-compulsive personality disorder PTSD vs. acute stress disorder Panic attacks vs. panic disorder GAD vs. adjustment disorder ADHD vs. anxiety/depression Borderline vs. bipolar personality/affective symptoms Anorexia nervosa vs. bulimia nervosa vs. binge-eating disorder Serotonin syndrome vs. neuroleptic malignant syndrome Anticholinergic toxicity vs. other causes of altered mental status

Include a dedicated Psychopharmacology section covering:

SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, MAOIs, and atypical antidepressants Typical and atypical antipsychotics Mood stabilizers, including lithium, valproate, carbamazepine, and lamotrigine Benzodiazepines and other anxiolytics Stimulants and non-stimulant ADHD medications Medications for substance use disorders Major mechanisms of action Common and dangerous adverse effects Drug-drug interactions Pregnancy considerations when clinically relevant Required baseline and follow-up laboratory monitoring Therapeutic drug monitoring where applicable Black box warnings Medication selection based on the patient's diagnosis and comorbidities

Include a dedicated Psychiatric Interview & Clinical Skills section teaching the student how to:

Conduct a complete psychiatric history Establish rapport and therapeutic communication Perform and document a Mental Status Examination Assess mood, affect, thought process, thought content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgment Assess suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, self-harm, psychosis, mania, and substance use Perform a focused cognitive assessment Obtain a substance use history Present a psychiatric patient orally in a concise, organized format Write a psychiatry-focused SOAP note Formulate a differential diagnosis and initial treatment plan Communicate with patients experiencing agitation, psychosis, mania, or emotional distress Use verbal de-escalation techniques Recognize when a patient may require emergency psychiatric evaluation, involuntary hospitalization, or a higher level of care Understand the general principles of psychiatric commitment and capacity assessment

Create high-yield comparison tables throughout the course for disorders, medications, diagnostic criteria, and common clinical differentiators.

Include shelf-style and clerkship-style clinical vignettes throughout each section. Questions should require the student to identify the most likely diagnosis, next best step, appropriate treatment, medication adverse effect, or underlying mechanism. After every question, provide a detailed explanation that includes:

Why the correct answer is correct Why each alternative is incorrect The key clue(s) in the vignette The relevant clinical pearl or exam takeaway

End each major section with a concise "What You Must Know" review containing the highest-yield facts a medical student should be able to recall on an exam or demonstrate on a clinical rotation.

Also include:

Spaced-repetition style recall questions Rapid-review summaries Mnemonics when genuinely useful Common attending/preceptor questions a medical student may be asked Common mistakes students make during psychiatry rotations Practical tips for succeeding on the psychiatry clerkship A final comprehensive practice exam with mixed-difficulty clinical vignettes A final rapid-review section covering the most testable psychiatry concepts and medications

Prioritize clinical reasoning and recognition of patterns over rote memorization. Make the course practical enough to prepare a medical student for real patient encounters while remaining strongly aligned with the material most likely to appear on a psychiatry shelf/end-of-rotation examination.

DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria details and differentiating subtle clinical look-alikes.