I arranged a second med/psych externship at Tulane University and started this past Monday. My main goal for this externship is to experience med/psych in a completely new environment. I want a broader perspective of med/psych, something with which to compare my experiences at UC Davis. I also obviously want to learn as much as possible about Tulane in general and its med/psych program in particular.
I've never been to New Orleans (N'Awlins) before now, so this externship promised to be an adventure for me. Finding acceptable housing was an issue because Tulane didn't officially confirm my externship until a week and a half before my start date. Life moves at a different pace in this city. I got lucky, though, and found a great housing situation through craigslist. It is a historic landmark built in 1845, located in the Garden District, which is a fancy-schmancy part of town with beautiful mansions in ornate French New Orleans style. I am staying in a flat on the second floor of the house, rented out to me by a real estate professional in his 30's. He is a proper Southern gentleman who offers all the hospitality that comes along with that background. So far, the living situation has worked out very well.
The first two days of the externship, I worked directly with the med/psych program director at her psychiatry clinic. Then I started working at Tulane Hospital with the consult & liason (CL) team. This is basically an in-house psychiatry consult service. For example, doctors in the emergency department may consult the CL service to determine whether a patient meets criteria for placing a 72-hour mental health hold (here in Louisiana called a physician emergency certification, or PEC for short). The CL service is also commonly called in to evaluate delirium and psychosis.
I will likely be spending the majority of my remaining time at Tulane working with the CL team, along with several weekly afternoon med/psych clinics. I will also be attending "Friday School," which is basically required lectures for internal medicine interns. I'm glad to be getting a taste of the didactic training that I would be experiencing myself as a Tulane intern.
