Being a PA student on AB11 psychiatric ward at Elmhurst Hospital was a particularly unique experience. There were no PAs on the unit, however I was able to work on the psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychiatry residents. When I inquired about the lack of PAs I learned that most of them worked in CPEP. That might have been a more appropriate place to learn from.

In the beginning of the day, I attended 1–2-hour meetings from 9-11am. In these meetings the head nurse reviewed each patient that was on the unit. This included number of hours slept, medication compliance, any change in behavior, any aggressive behavior, any PRN medications that were needed to be given, and a general overview of the patient’s presentation/diagnosis. Throughout these meetings I took extensive notes and followed through with patients that Dr. Manasherov and Dr. Parlor were following for the day. I found the meeting to be informative and I was able to inquire about any questions that I had.

I had quite a few memorable patients that I got to observe on the unit. Of all of them the ones with schizophrenia and/or personality disorders stood out to me the most. I particularly was interested in one patient who left Texas to come chase her ex-boyfriend to NYC, however she made this impulsive decision based on a fake twitter account that her ex was contacting her on. In NYC she got into an argument with a pedestrian, laid down in between the crosswalk, and was even argumentative with law enforcement. The interview revealed that she had done the similar things in other states (NC, VA, PA) over the past few months. It was interesting to see that this patient might have borderline personality disorder.

I also enjoyed working with one patient, TL. Unfortunately I was not part of his medical treatment but I was able to provide some psychotherapy for him under the guidance of his psychologist. TL was developing the symptoms of antisocial personality disorder and it was imperative for him to break away from that.

In all I thought this rotation was a decent learning experience.