Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship

The Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Programat the University of Virginia offers unique experiences to further your education and clinical skills in the treatment of our elderly community.  Our one-year program is split into two major rotations:  nursing homes in and around Charlottesville and our inpatient geriatric unit at the University hospital.  Other rotations include ECT, geriatric inpatient consults, geriatric internal medicine, neurology clinic, outpatient psychiatry, and working with Adult Protective Services (APS).  There is also a required research project and many of our fellows have presented posters or published manuscripts based on their research projects.

To apply for the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship send us:

• The universal application form: (get it here Universal Application )
• Three letters of reference, one from your training director
• Copies of your medical school transcripts and Dean’s letter
• Copies of your USMLE or COMLEX steps 1-3.
• A personal statement

Mudhasir Bashir, M.D.
Geriatric Psychiatry Program Director
PO Box 800623, Charlottesville, VA 22908
Phone: 434-924-5408
Fax:      434-924-5149
psychresidency@virginia.edu

Nursing Homes: As a geriatric fellow, you will be seeing patients independently in some of our local nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  You will have two to three mornings per week to see patients independently who will then be discussed and staffed with one of the attending physicians later in the week.  Fellows also travel with one of the attending physicians to nursing homes to see patients together, which provides an opportunity for more supervision and education.  Occasionally there will be PGY-4 psychiatry residents or medical students accompanying the fellows on these visits.

Geriatric Inpatient Unit: UVA offers a small unit for geriatric patients (up to 6 beds).  During this rotation, you will gain experience supervising residents and acting as an Attending-in-training while seeing geriatric inpatients.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): Fellows have the opportunity to work with our ECT attending to provide this treatment to patients.

Adult Protective Services (APS): This is a unique and very informative experience for our fellows.   Fellows will rotate one afternoon weekly for 4 months with Adult Protective Services of Albemarle County.  This rotation provides fellows with the opportunity to travel to homes with social workers who are investigating cases of elderly abuse, neglect, or exploitation.

Geriatric Medicine Clinic: For one afternoon weekly for four months, you will work with one of UVA’s geriatric internal medicine specialists to gain a better understanding and experience with medical problems in the elderly in a nursing home setting.

Neurology Clinic: For one afternoon weekly for four months, our fellows work in one of UVA’s many neurology clinics.  Fellows have recently been rotating in a Movement Disorders Clinic where they see and treat patients of all ages with various movement disorders.  This clinic is supervised by attending physicians in the UVA Neurology Department.

Outpatient Clinic: Fellows rotate in a geriatric outpatient psychiatry clinic for one afternoon weekly for the duration of the year. During this experience, fellows will see both new and established patients over age 60. One of our attending physicians supervises the clinic and is available for staffing and supervision during clinic hours.

Journal Club: Once monthly, fellows are required to select and present a relevant journal article in geriatric psychiatry to a small group of geriatric psychiatry faculty and other geriatric psychiatry fellows over lunch.

Supervision: Supervision is provided in many forms.  As attending physicians are required to see any patients with Medicare as their insurance provider, there is much opportunity to present and staff patients with faculty throughout nursing homes and the outpatient clinic.  UVA also provides fellows with additional supervision with one of the geriatric psychiatry faculty members.