During postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1), trainees embark on multidisciplinary training that sets the stage for their careers as medical doctors, while introducing health systems.

Most of PGY-1 is spent in community and public hospital settings, where residents provide care for patients from diverse backgrounds and who are traditionally underserved in healthcare. Months spent in internal medicine and neurology rotations serve as a foundation for medical knowledge and skills. Psychiatric rotations focus on core competencies in psychiatric evaluation and management, primarily in inpatient and emergency settings.

Clinical Rotations for Residents

Medicine, neurology, and inpatient psychiatry rotations take place at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone and NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn. Emergency psychiatry rotations take place at the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue.

The year is divided as follows:

• 10 weeks of medicine
• 2 weeks of internal medicine night float
• 2 weeks of emergency medicine
• 2 weeks of ambulatory care medicine
• 4 weeks on the neurology consult service
• 4 weeks of ambulatory care neurology
• 14 weeks of inpatient psychiatry
• 8 weeks in the Bellevue CPEP
• 2 weeks of psychiatry electives
• 4 weeks of vacation

Internal Medicine Clinical Training

Internal medicine rotations take place at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, where residents are expected to function as an internal medicine or emergency medicine intern. Supervision and didactics, and on-call experiences, align with the assigned service (e.g., residents attend didactics with PGY-1 medicine residents while on service). The inpatient medicine experience is further enhanced by a two-week “night float” rotation, during which PGY-1 residents hone their skills in evaluating and managing hospitalized patients.

PGY-1 residents also spend two weeks rotating in the Emergency Department of NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, gaining skills in the rapid assessment and management of medical emergencies.

Finally, PGY-1 residents complete a two-week rotation in the ambulatory care setting to hone skills in primary care management, and to gain insight into the complexities of primary care in a community medicine clinic. This rotation occurs in the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone.

Neurology Clinical Training

PGY-1 training in neurology occurs across inpatient and outpatient clinical settings. Residents spend four weeks rotating in the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone clinics under faculty supervision. The remaining four weeks are spent on the inpatient neurology consult service at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, where residents participate in the evaluation and management of acute neurological presentations. During time on these services, residents participate in neurology conferences, rounds, and other educational activities, alongside their neurology colleagues.

Bellevue Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program

The Bellevue CPEP is the busiest psychiatric emergency service in New York City, consisting of thousands of patient encounters annually. The psychiatric emergency department, in addition to crisis intervention, provides extended observation of patients for up to 72 hours. The program also includes an interim crisis clinic, an innovative program for providing short-term follow-up to patients discharged from the emergency department, and the mobile crisis team, a multidisciplinary team that visits people in the community when acute psychiatric treatment is indicated.

PGY-1 residents rotate for eight weeks in the Bellevue CPEP, a foundational experience in emergency psychiatry, psychiatric evaluation, and systems of care. The rotation schedule includes daytime, evening, and overnight shifts. Residents learn fundamental principles of psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment that focuses on urgent and emergency psychiatric presentations. They assess diverse patients who present by walking in, via emergency medical services, from the medical emergency department, and from New York City’s jail system.

All cases are supervised by attending physicians. True to the interdisciplinary nature of psychiatry, case management and disposition typically involves the engagement of a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, and community health resources.

Inpatient Psychiatry Clinical Training

Inpatient psychiatric training in Brooklyn occurs at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn. This 35-bed unit serves patients with serious and acute psychiatric illness, who are admitted for both voluntary and involuntary psychiatric treatment. Residents spend 14 weeks on this unit in the first year, and during this time, become familiar with psychiatric diagnostics, initiation and monitoring of psychiatric medications, and the therapeutic modalities of inpatient care. Residents carry a caseload of patients, managing all aspects of psychiatric treatment and discharge planning, in close collaboration with attending supervisors.

Educational opportunities are integrated into the rotation, with regular case supervision, case conferences, journal clubs, and opportunities for targeted scholarly activity through quality improvement and other initiatives. In addition, residents will have the opportunity to provide teaching to NYU Grossman School of Medicine medical students who rotate on the unit.

On-Call Shifts for Residents

PGY-1 residents take call in the Bellevue CPEP, where they share coverage for 12-hour shifts spanning the weekend, including Saturday and Sunday daytime shifts and Saturday overnight shifts. They also provide backup coverage for overnight CPEP shifts.

Postgraduate Year 1 Didactic Education

Didactic education is shared with NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Psychiatry Residency. Residents convene weekly for formal learning opportunities, as well as dedicated scholarly and clinical development time. Seminar-style PGY-1 didactics focus on clinical case material, differential diagnoses, patient interviewing skills, risk assessment, psychopharmacology, and various subspecialties, including but not limited to, forensics, addiction, and consultation.

Attendance at didactics is prioritized when residents are on psychiatry and elective rotations. During off-service rotations (e.g., medicine), residents generally participate in the didactic education of that service.