COVID-19 Response - Psychiatry Residency

Maryland, and Baltimore specifically, has seen some of the highest coronavirus rates in the mid-Atlantic region, and our tertiary medical center, UMMC, continues to care for some of the most medically complex patients.

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing social, political, and economic crises - the sequelae of which we will likely be seeing for years to come - our skills as therapists and psychopharmacologists have never been more in demand.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Training Department and all our partner training sites have been working to ensure our residents continue to receive high quality training experiences while providing safe and effective care for our patients.

As we continue to adapt, here are some of the changes we have implemented:

• All residents are provided with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) at all training sites.
• The Training Office Staff and residents meet regularly to troubleshoot problems and disseminate new information (this is not new for COVID)
• Didactics have moved from in-person to being completely virtual
• Outpatient training sites are conducting the majority of patient visits via telemedicine
• Inpatient units are single-occupancy rooms only
• All patients being admitted to inpatient units must have a negative COVID-19 test prior to admission
• Consults conducted on persons suspected of potentially having COVID-19 are done using video technology to reduce the risk of unnecessary exposure
• We have implemented a backup system in the event that residents do become ill or have to quarantine due to a suspected high-risk exposure