A Day in the Life of a PGY 2
After a week of intern summer staycation, we’re finally PGY2s! The week off was such a great break after an intense first year on pediatrics rotation. We now transition to learning the ropes on adult inpatient psychiatry for three months, then back to pediatrics for 7 months and finally end our second year on psychiatry again for the last three months. While we do miss caring for our kiddos at Riley Hospital for Children, we’re enjoying our time training in psychiatry and appreciate more time off to relax.
The transition to adult psychiatry is pretty smooth. We have amazing support from our program coordinators, Jennifer Faires and Jeanette Souder, and all of the categorical psychiatry PGY2’s are a text away for us to ask questions. The hardest part of the transition is learning how to talk to adults again and treating psychosis. Luckily, our intern year taught us how to write orders and notes. There is also a PGY4 psychiatry resident on the inpatient services in July who really helps with the transition.
A typical PGY 2 day starts at 8:00 a.m. with Molly and Yen going to the weekly half day of general pediatric clinic, where we are with Amelia (PGY1 TB resident) and other categorical pediatric residents. After clinic, we usually grab a quick bite to eat together, then Molly heads to Eskenazi Health, our county hospital with a 30-bed adult inpatient psychiatry unit. Yen meets up with Darrian at the VA hospital to finish the day caring for veterans with mood disorders and psychosis on the inpatient unit.
Our workday often wraps up by 4:30 pm. About twice a month, we have psych call in our psychiatry emergency room at Eskenazi until 10:00 pm, helping with acute psychiatric admissions. Every Friday, we have protected afternoon didactics where we are excused from clinical duties so we can focus on absorbing all there is to learn for adult and child psych with the other categorical psych residents. Did we also mention that after Friday didactics, we get every single weekend off during our psych months?!
On nights when we’re not in the psych emergency department, you’ll find us hanging out with first and second year categorical psych residents at weekly trivia nights, meeting up with categorical pediatric residents for food or games, or going to each other’s houses to watch movies, paint with Bob Ross, making fancy cheese boards, kneading fresh pasta or enjoying delicious local wines from Oliver Winery. All in all, the work is intense, but the camaraderie and friendships are unmatched!
Written by Molly Bullington, MD, Darrian Bost, MD and Yen Johnson, MD
