The last rotation of my Primary Care block was mental health! I was looking forward to this rotation because psych medications are NOT my strong suit. The rotation was actually super unique because I rotated with mental health providers working with the Texas prison system. So it was not a super transferrable kind of experience, but I did learn a lot!

My day would start anywhere between 6:30 and 8:00, depending on the day. The providers service a different prison unit every day, so their schedule depends on the prison’s schedule. The prisoners would usually be brought to the clinic in groups, and we saw them one at a time virtually. The appointments lasted anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on whether the patient was a follow up if we needed to obtain a full psychiatric history. We would usually see 10-15 patients a day in a 4 hour period.

One of the great things about this rotation, is that after about 1 o’clock we would be done seeing patients, so I could go home and study! I liked to help my preceptor input the notes for the day before I left, but I still had plenty of time to work on my own. Which was great as I prepared for my first round of EORs!

Common diagnoses I saw in mental health: 

• Depression, unspecified
• Major depressive disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Adjustment disorder
• Mood disorder, unspecified
• Schizoaffective disorder
• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Drug induced dyskinesia
• Schizophrenia
• Alcohol abuse disorder
• Alcohol-induced anxiety disorder
• Brief psychotic disorder
• Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
• Irritability and anger