Mission

The mission of the program is to provide top quality education and training to future physicians who possess the dedication, drive, and passion to use their knowledge to the benefit of all North Carolina citizens in order to improve the health of our communities one person at a time.

Vision

To inspire trainees of all backgrounds to deliver excellent, compassionate, individualized, and evidence-based care to all with devotion and integrity.

Aims

• We will provide residents with extensive experience that will support a high level of competence and expertise in order to practice independently in any setting, a variety of community clinical services and military medical settings.
• We will provide residents with robust training in specialty areas such as Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Eating Disorders, Trauma, Severe Persistent Mental Illness, and Traumatic Brain Injury in addition to general psychiatry residency rotations.

• Didactics will be a combination of in-person and live streaming of lectures by the Faculty of the University of North Carolina, Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, and Novant Health/NHRMC.
• During their PGY1 and PGY2 years, residents will spend most of their required rotations at Novant Health/NHRMC, working closely with faculty physicians/supervisors and an interdisciplinary team, with the goal of attaining graduated levels of autonomy as they progress through their rotations.
• PGY1 rotations at this site will include: Internal Medicine, Neurology, General Emergency Medicine, Adult Inpatient Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, and Behavioral Health/Psychiatric Emergency Medicine.
• PGY2 rotations at this site will include: Consult-Liaison Psychiatry, Behavioral Health/Psychiatric Emergency Medicine, and Adult Inpatient Psychiatry.

1st Year

• 3 Sessions of Inpatient internal Medicine - 12 Weeks
• 1 Session of Emergency Medicine - 4 Weeks
• 2 Sessions of Neurology - 8 Weeks
• 2 Sessions of Inpatient Psychiatry - 8 Weeks
• 1 Session of Inpatient Geriatric Psychiatry - 4 Weeks
• 1 Session of Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - 4 Weeks
• 1 Session of Emergency Room Psychiatry - 4 Weeks
• 2 Sessions of Electives - 8 Weeks

2nd Year

• 4 Sessions of Inpatient Psychiatry - 16 Weeks
• 3 Sessions of Consult Liaison Psychiatry - 12 Weeks
• 3 Sessions of Emergency Room Psychiatry - 12 Weeks
• 1 Session of combined Emergency Room Consult Liaison Psychiatry at NMC Camp Lejeune - 4 Weeks
• 2 Sessions of Electives - 8 Weeks

3rd Year

• Focused on outpatient with residents having longitudinal exposure to patients at NMC Camp Lejeune, with an embedded Marine Psychiatrist, and at Novant Health/HRMC. Residents will also have exposure to Child Psychiatry weekly and ½ day of psychotherapy clinic weekly.

4th Year

• Continued outpatient experience with more time dedicated to electives and acting attending opportunities.

Rotations and electives include Psychiatry Emergency Department, Consult-Liaison Psychiatry, Adult Inpatient Psychiatry, Adult Psychiatry Clinic, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic, Operational/Embedded Clinic, Neurology, and Intrepid Spirit Traumatic Brain Injury Program.

Call will, at most, be every fourth night.

Our program is one of only a handful of combined civilian-military psychiatry residencies in the country. This means you'll get experience working with both civilian and military patients through inpatient and outpatient clinical rotations at both New Hanover Regional Medical Center and Camp Lejeune. The New Hanover Regional Medical Center Psychiatry Residency Program is a partnership with NMC Camp Lejeune and the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine.

Novant Health – New Hanover Regional Medical Center

During their PGY1 and PGY2 years, residents will spend the majority of their required rotations at Novant Health/NHRMC, working closely in each rotation with faculty physicians/supervisors and an interdisciplinary team, with the goal of attaining graduated levels of autonomy as they progress through their rotations.

Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune

The PGY1 rotations at NMC Camp Lejeune will include Internal Medicine, Neurology, General Emergency Medicine, Adult Inpatient Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, and Behavioral Health/Psychiatric Emergency Medicine.  PGY2 rotations at this site will include Consult-Liaison Psychiatry, Behavioral Health/Psychiatric Emergency.

Novant Health/New Hanover Regional Medical Center has recently implemented a Simulation Center Director who is working closely with each program to develop an imbedded simulation curriculum.

During their third year operational (embedded) clinic rotations, residents will demonstrate an understanding of different leadership roles in the mental health setting and ability to appropriately navigate those roles.

Residents are supported in participating in Root Cause Analysis Investigations, Individual process improvement projects as part of a local initiative (residents find an improvement project and align with a faculty mentor), or group projects where faculty and residents work with other members of the healthcare team including students or trainees from other disciplines, and The Resident Advisory Committee (RAC) is aligned with the six Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) focus areas (patient safety, health care quality, teaming, supervision, well-being, and professionalism). There is a RAC member who is charged with looking for Quality Improvement Patient Safety (QIPS) projects to bring to the Quality Council or Patient Safety Committee (or both).

Several of our GME programs have ongoing and upcoming research opportunities that could easily expand to include our faculty and residents in research connections and components related to the interface with mental health.

Residents will be encouraged to find a mentor to explore participation in active research taking place in the military, in the other GME programs in our sponsoring institution, and through our affiliation with University of North Carolina.

Safety and Quality Improvement opportunities include Resident representatives in the institutional Patient Safety Committee, where Resident representatives will work on quality improvement projects with the interprofessional/interdisciplinary Quality Council, Ongoing clinical process improvement initiatives (ongoing per fiscal year), Acute Concussion care, and Opioid prescribing standardization and care pathways. In fiscal year 2024, the expected initiative will be the Behavioral Health Treatment and Outcomes Pathway. Each of these initiatives have institutional resources including process improvement experts and content/metrics developed at the national level.

Residents are supported in participating in Root Cause Analysis Investigations, Individual process improvement projects as part of a local initiative (residents find an improvement project and align with a faculty mentor), or group projects where faculty and residents work with other members of the healthcare team including students or trainees from other disciplines, and The Resident Advisory Committee (RAC) is aligned with the six Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) focus areas (patient safety, health care quality, teaming, supervision, well-being, and professionalism). There is a RAC member who is charged with looking for Quality Improvement Patient Safety (QIPS) projects to bring to the Quality Council or Patient Safety Committee (or both).

• Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center
• Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune
• Physician Alliance for Mental Health
• Carolina Dunes Behavioral Health

The Psychiatry Residency Program offers clerkships to Health Professions Scholarship Program and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences medical students through the Psychiatry Residency Clerkship. Rotation through the program will grant medical students the opportunity to work in the following areas:

• Inpatient Psychiatry
• Outpatient Psychiatry
• Consult-Liaison Services

We welcome interview requests from medical students, interns, residents, and general medical officers. We also welcome applicants from any uniformed service. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact our associate program director, who will request information for their application (CV and personal statement). Our interview format is the same whether done in person or virtually, with all applicants interviewing with our Program Director, Associate Program Director, Faculty from Camp LeJeune and Novant Health/NHRMC, and current residents.

Program graduates take the Psychiatry Resident-In-Training Examination (PRITE) exam, which is offered annually. To become fully board certified, applicants are eligible to take board certification exam six months following graduation. To be eligible to take specialty board exams, graduates must complete all pre-requisites required by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology: American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology General Requirements - American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Residents learn to integrate a formal team approach with the efficiency of a less formal team approach. Senior residents will use selective time to serve as Acting Attendings, functioning as the formal leaders of the team, in coordination with faculty, while providing supervision of junior residents, medical students and other healthcare team members. Multi-source evaluations from self, faculty, staff, peers, and students will be sought, and feedback based upon those evaluations will be incorporated into the semi-annual evaluations with the program director. Acting Attendings and junior residents will be supported in identifying and completing quality assurance and patient safety projects.

Faculty are specialized in geriatrics, child and adolescent, and addiction management.

Residents will be assigned a mentor to explore participation in active research taking place in the military, in the other GME programs in our sponsoring institution, and through our affiliation with University of North Carolina.

The Novant Health/NHRMC Combined Military-Civilian Psychiatry Residency Program understand that psychological, emotional, and physical well-being are critical in the development of the competent, caring, and resilient physician and require proactive attention to life inside and outside of medicine. Faulty and residents are at a risk of burnout and depression. Physicians and all members of the health care team share the responsibility for the well-being of each other. 

A positive culture in a clinical learning environment models constructive behaviors and prepares residents with the skills and attitudes needed to thrive throughout their careers. The program has the responsibility of paying attention to scheduling, work intensity, and work compression that influences learner well-being. Resources provided will help to develop a plan for stress response management, exercise and relaxation techniques, balanced nutrition, and an impact that the environment has on health. The program will also provide residents the opportunity to meet with the Residency Wellness Coordinator to discuss topics including, but not limited to, fatigue, sleep deprivation, burnout, depression, and substance abuse.