UM/Sheppard Pratt Psychiatry Residency Program

Our Philosophy of Training

The University of Maryland Medical Center and the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital have been at the forefront of psychiatry residency education for almost 50 years. Our program's philosophy revolves around a belief in the basic unity of all psychiatry as a specialty of medicine. We train physicians who comfortably incorporate the bio-psycho-social model in the care of patients. Our graduates work in private practice, in academia, in public settings, and in research institutes. Whatever the area of psychiatric practice, the training residents receive in the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt program provides a strong foundation for success and leadership.

Collegiality -- As a resident, you will be a colleague, involved in forming educational policy, ongoing program planning and other types of decision making. In addition, we are committed to ensuring your progress as an individual, and we work hard to meet the needs of each resident.

Participation -- The program belongs to you as much as to the faculty. Each committee and work group which plans and runs the program has several resident members, including the Residency Training Advisory Committee, which directly advises the Director of Residency Training.

Diversity -- Teaching sites and patient populations are diverse, ensuring a wide range of experience. Residents train at a tertiary care academic medical center, a private psychiatric hospital, a Veterans Affairs hospital, a state psychiatric hospital and multiple community sites including an assertive community treatment team. This diversity allows the opportunity to work with patients of all ages and backgrounds in inpatient, outpatient and day treatment settings. As a resident, you evaluate and treat patients with every major psychiatric disorder and disorders secondary to general medical conditions.

Teaching -- Our faculty members are committed to teaching. Senior faculty are involved in all aspects of the training experience. We also believe residents are effective teachers, and we provide many opportunities to supervise students and serve as junior colleagues.

Supervision -- Guidance is crucial to your career. We provide excellent mentors and role models for residents in all areas. Supervisors on inpatient rotations include both ward administrators and outside faculty. All outpatient sites have on-site faculty to supervise, as well as outside supervisors. Many volunteer faculty are available for long-term psychotherapy supervision.

Excellence -- We provide strong clinical training in general psychiatry which allows our graduates to succeed in academia, private practice, public settings, and research institutes. In recent U.S. News and World Report surveys of hospitals, both Sheppard Pratt and the University of Maryland ranked among the best hospitals for psychiatry. Furthermore, the University of Maryland School of Medicine is among the top national research institutions. As of 2003, the School ranked #8 in research grant expenditures for public schools (#20 for all schools). In research grant expenditures per clinical faculty, we ranked #6 for all schools. The Psychiatry Department's externally funded research portfolio currently exceeds $15 million and is growing rapidly. The Department ranks #11 (out of 125) in total NIH research grant funding.

This page was last updated on: December 5, 2007.

For more information, call the University Physicians Consultation and Referral Service at 1-800-492-5538 (patients) or 1-800-373-4111 (physicians).