Overview (Residency Training) | Residents

Residents are required to do the following. Failure to do these will be taken into consideration in deciding about promotion and/or suitability to sit for Royal College Exams.

• Attend Wednesday Lectures, Clinical Conferences/University Rounds and submit lecture evaluation forms
• Participate in On-Call Schedules
• Submit Leave Forms for ALL Conference and Vacation Leave
• Complete a minimum of 2 years of Psychotherapy Supervision
• Ensure completion and submit Psychotherapy Supervision Forms semi-annually
• Complete six Supervised Clinical Interviews each year and submit forms
• Ensure completion and submit Rotation Evaluation Forms at the end of each rotation
• Write the Annual COPE Self-Assessment Examination 
• Participate in the Annual Clinical Oral Examinations 
• Meet annually with the Director of Postgraduate Education and Director of Psychotherapy and Director of Research

Wednesday of each week is protected time for psychiatry academic programmes. The following outlines protected time for different residency levels:

• PGY-1 Half-Day academic / protected time to attend morning lectures
• PGY-2&3: Full day protected time
• PGY-4&5: Half-Day academic/protected time and may have another half-day if they have approved research or educational projects (an identified preceptor with approval by the Program Director)

Residents are allowed 4 hours per week, protected time from their clinical service to fulfill their psychotherapy objectives. Within this 4 hours of protected time, 2 hours per week will be spent on supervision with their assigned psychotherapy supervisor.

Attendance at lectures is a mandatory part of your Residency Training from both the Psychiatry Department perspective as well as a requirement for completion of the programme from the perspective of the Royal College.

Research is considered to be an integral part of the residency program.  There is a mandatory research project that must be completed by the end of residency.  The research project is seen as a vehicle around which skills in literature review, critical assessment, research methodology, statistics, writing and time management are developed.  

Curriculum on research related topics occurs throughout the four years of the program.  Various blocks of time have been allocated to research during the PGY-2 and PGY-3 curricula.  Wednesday half days can be designated to research projects during the fourth and fifth years of residency.

The department has a number of resources available for development of research interests.  There are three faculty advisors who are available to help residents in the early development of their research interests.  Residents are then put in contact with faculty mentor/supervisors, usually in an area related to the resident’s research interest.  The faculty member provides ongoing support.  

Residents are also provided with time to discuss their research in a peer group through regular research forums conducted by the research division within the department.  Residents are able to apply for limited funding up to $5000 in competition with others from the Department of Psychiatry.  They will also have access to funds from the Kilpatrick Endowment to a maximum of $1200 per year for attendance at conferences, travel, computers, software and books.  Residents are also eligible for research funding from the QEII Research Fund.  There is also a dedicated research fund for residents, supporting up to $2500 per resident.

Residents presenting their work at regional, national or international conferences can access additional financial travel support and are allowed additional 3 days of conference leave.

Residents are also able to take advantage of the clinical research fellowships through the department. 

The residents have access to secretarial support for preparation of grant applications, manuscripts and other office support as required.

Research Day & Awards: The Dalhousie Psychiatry Research Section co-ordinates an annual Research Day, where medical students, residents, fellows, faculty members and allied mental health professionals share the results of their recent research and invited experts give presentations on 'state-of-the-art' research topics. Awards are presented for the top resident presentation and poster. Winners advance to a Faculty of Medicine Research Day.

New residents are oriented to the Dalhousie Medical School ’s Kellogg Library.  This library has an extensive collection of medical text and journals, many of them on-line, as well as access to computers for literature searching. 

Well equipped libraries exist at the QEII Health Sciences Center and the IWK Health Center and the Nova Scotia Hospital with access to specialty textbooks, journals, reference materials, and internet resources.  The Atlantic Health Sciences Center in Saint John also has an extensive medical library. 

The Department holds an on-line access licence for the standard Psychiatry textbook (Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry by Kaplan and Sadock), which is accessible to all residents and staff around the clock, from both in-house and off-site locations.

The Education Office has two computer workstations with internet access dedicated for resident’s use which allows searching of medical literature and opportunities to access online e-journals through the Dalhousie library facilities. There are dedicated residents rooms in the Nova Scotia Hospital and QEII equipped with computers and internet access.

Each resident has 4 weeks (or 20 weekdays) of  vacation and 5 weekdays of Conference Leave per year.   Residents are required to split up their vacation by taking 2 weeks out of the first 6-months and the last 6-months, with no more than 5 days of vacation taken as individual days.   In cases of extraordinary circumstances, whereby a resident cannot use or needs to organize vacation, the resident must apply to the programme director in writing for approval.  

In PGY-2, residents are permitted to use their 5 days of Conference Leave for 'study leave" to prepare for the LMCC Part II.

In PGY-5 year, the programme allows the following leave to allow for travel and attendance at the following courses and to prepare our residents for the RCPSC oral and written qualifying exams.  This time can only be used as outlined below:

• Ottawa Review Course (up to 5 days)
• Interviewing Skills Review Course (up to 5 days)
• Exam Preparation (up to 5 calendar days prior to either the written or oral exam.  e.g. You may take 2 days before oral and 3 days before written for a total of 5 days OR you may take 5 days before the written exam)

Residents are encouraged to attend national and international conferences in areas relevant to Psychiatry.  An endowment fund, the "Kilpatrick Fund" provides residents with up to $1200 per year in PGY-2 through PGY-5. This funding can be used to cover travel and registration expenses for conferences. Most residents will attend either the Canadian Psychiatric Association Conference or the American Psychiatric Association Conference each year.