End of my first rotation.... Psychiatry

My first rotation ended today. I was sad to say goodbye to the staff and patients that I have gotten to know during the past 4 weeks. I was at a local alcohol and drug outpatient rehab center, and spent most of my time at the women's center, and one or two days a week at the men's recovery center. Technically, this probably wasn't the "best" psychiatric rotation in terms of seeing a broad spectrum of psychiatric illnesses, but I think there's an advantage to spending time in a specialized setting - you get to know at least one piece of the puzzle really well. Alcohol and drug addiction will be a pervasive issue regardless of where I end up working, so I'm glad I had this experience. One thing I learned from watching psych interviews - a really good interview doesn't seem so much like an interview, but a conversation. And another skill is writing a good HPI after what seems like a rambling conversation. I had the opportunity to attempt both a few times and it was a good learning experience. :-)