Externship
Saint Elizabeths Hospital/DC DBH places a strong emphasis on training and education at all levels, and the Psychiatry Training Program remains a central component of the DBH.
About Our Program
Saint Elizabeths Hospital accepts candidates into our psychiatry and neurology externship programs throughout the year. Externs at Saint Elizabeths Hospital gain clinical experience and training on a volunteer basis. The hospital provides liability coverage for work performed under the supervision of an attending psychiatrist.
Psychiatry Externship
Externs work under the direct supervision of an attending psychiatrist on an inpatient unit and are involved in clinical interviewing, history gathering, assessments and treatment planning. The patient population is a mixture of civil and forensic admissions, which allows externs to become more familiar with the systemic and legal aspects of psychiatry. In addition they participate in daily morning reports, weekly didactic seminars, and interviewing conferences. The externship is sixteen weeks in duration and work hours are Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. There are no evening, weekend, or call responsibilities.
Neurology Externship
Externs work under the direct supervision of an attending neurologist who runs the neurology consultation service for psychiatry patients admitted to Saint Elizabeths Hospital. Externs are involved in clinical interviewing, history gathering, assessments and treatment planning of patients suspected of having comorbid neurologic disorders. They may encounter patients with neuromuscular disorders, dementia, epilepsy, headaches/migraines, stroke or traumatic brain injury, and more. Externs develop experience in diagnosis of neurological conditions that might reasonably be expected to be encountered in psychiatric practice and which must be considered in the differential diagnosis of psychiatric disorders.
Prospective Applicants
The Externship program is looking for applicants who are professional, mature, psychologically-minded and culturally-competent. Applicants must have excellent communication skills in spoken and written English and excellent comprehension of English. Applicants must have graduated from medical school and have passed USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK and CS. Applicants who have passed USMLE Step 3 and those with USMLE scores ≥220 with no fails are preferred.
Selected applicants will be invited for an externship around the year.
Applications are reviewed in the order in which they are received. Due to the large volume of applications, we are unable to return phone or email inquiries about the status of applications. You will be contacted ONLY if you are selected for an interview.
If you wish to apply to the externship program, please send the documents listed below via US Mail:
- Cover Letter (including your direct phone and email contact information)
- Personal Statement (including information about your interest in psychiatry and externship)
- Curriculum Vitae (in chronological order beginning with medical school with no time gaps)
- Three letters of recommendation (from physicians familiar with your work)
- Copy of USMLE Certified Transcript of Scores (not the individual score reports)
- Copy of ECFMG Certificate
- Copies of Medical School Diploma and Transcripts
Submissions missing any documents listed above will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed. Applications sent via fax or email will not be reviewed. Please note that completing our externship program does not guarantee an interview for, nor a position in, the Saint Elizabeths Hospital Psychiatry Program.
Please mail your completed application to the following address:
Psychiatry Externship Program
Saint Elizabeths Hospital
2nd Floor, Room 238
1100 Alabama Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20032