Clinical Neuroscience Course

Sophomore required course, offered in the Fall and Winter Quarters

The Clinical Neuroscience Course is a multidisciplinary course focusing on brain structure and function and their clinical manifestations. Faculty include members of the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neurology. Term I covers brain organization strategies for the diagnosis of central nervous system disease. These strategies include the mental status and cognitive assessment examinations, psychological testing, and routine (e.g., blood count) and specialized (e.g., lumbar puncture, magnetic resonance imaging) laboratory testing, normal and abnormal personality. Term II covers disorders of the central nervous system encompassing psychopathology. For these disorders, prevalence, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prevention are covered. Students watch videos of psychiatric patients and have an opportunity to watch psychiatric patients being interviewed by core faculty.

Course Director  
     Frederick S. Sierles, MD
     frederick.sierles@rosalindfranklin.edu

Course Coordinator
     Sue Shaw
     sue.shaw@rosalindfranklin.edu
      847-578-8722

Psychiatry Clerkship

The psychiatry clerkship is a required six-week rotation in the third year of medical school. Students rotate at a variety of sites, including the North Chicago VA Medical Center, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and Elgin Mental Health Center. In addition, students attend outpatient/mental health clinics at the RFUMS Health System's Behavioral Health Clinic in Vernon Hills and Ann M. Kiley Center in Waukegan.Students are supervised by both psychiatry residents and attendings. They are assigned to inpatient acute psychiatry wards, consultation psychiatry service, and outpatient mental health clinics. Students attend a full day of orientation at the university campus and then at their assigned clerkship site. Students have assigned readings, required patient interview exercises, as well as quizzes and examinations, in addition to a full day of didactic teaching during the fourth week of the rotation. At most sites, students will take two evenings on call with a resident. The majority of students will also observe electroconvulsive therapy at the North Chicago VA Medical Center. Students interested in child psychiatry will attend child psychiatry clinic at the RFUMS Health System.On the final day of the rotation, students take a USMLE-style final examination.

Course Director
     Nutan Vaidya, MD 
     nutan.vaidya@rosalindfranklin.edu

Course Coordinator
     Sue Shaw
     sue.shaw@rosalindfranklin.edu
      847-578-8722

Electives in Psychiatry

Sophomore Elective Course

MPSY 699 Evaluating a Patient from a Different Culture Through Cinema (10 weeks, Dr. Vaidya)

Students will understand how culture facilitates and hinders medical care, and learn the skills which will enable them to interview patients from different cultures through the use of film. This course will discuss topics from a student's perspective and cross culture communication patterns and their impact on clinical care.

Senior Elective Courses

(Note: Prerequisites for all senior elective courses: successful completion of the Clerkship in Basic Psychiatry and departmental permission.)

MPSY 825 Clinical Elective in Forensic Psychiatry(3-4 weeks, 40 hours/week, Dr. Daghestani)

The student will become familiar with the specialized clinical and medicolegal issues surrounding treatment of patients adjudicated Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity and Unable to Stand Trial. 

MPSY 891 Psychotherapy Elective (4 weeks, 40 hours/week, Drs. Garfield, Weiss, Bair, Zaror)

This elective will expose senior medical students to the basics of psychotherapy theory and practice through required readings and patient care in inpatient and outpatient settings.