What Goes In Your Pockets:

• sample psych H&P (see below)
• patient list/scutsheet
• notes from which to study
• PDA/phone with drug reference
• stethoscope
• alcohol wipes to clean your stethoscope between patients

What to Study:

• Blueprints Psychiatry – This is the review book students recommend most for studying for the shelf exam.
• Psychiatry Pretest – This is an excellent resource. Go through the entire book once.
• Lange Q&A: Psychiatry– This is also recommended by students as a great resource to help you study.

DIT Study Plan:

Psychiatry – 4 Weeks*

*We realize that not every school has the same rotation length. We’ve based our study plans off of the most common rotation length. You may need to readjust the number of pages and questions per day for a shorter or longer rotation length. Also, our rotation study plans are based off 7-day study weeks. If you prefer to study for only 5 or 6 days per week, that’s ok, too. Just read a few more pages and do a few more questions than we suggest in this plan on the days you are studying.

**You will find that you will occasionally need to deviate from this plan so that you can “read ahead” about your patients and the cases you will be seeing. This study guide is designed to keep you on track and get you through the material enough times to do well on your shelf exam.

Other Advice:

• Learn the components of the psych H&P well. This will allow you to perform more consistent examinations of your patients and will also help you study for your shelf exam. An example H&P template is available at medfools.com.
• If you can, try to spend some time in the psych ER. You will learn a lot and see some cases you won’t see elsewhere.