Didactic Curriculum

Adjunct professor Dr. Mehul Mankad leads an Academic Half-Day session on Law and Psychiatry.
Adjunct professor Mehul Mankad, MD, leads an Academic Half-Day session on Law and Psychiatry.

Protected time for didactic learning (“Academic Half-Day”) takes place on Tuesday afternoons throughout the entire four years of training. Academic Half-Days consist of several components, including courses, weekly conferences and site-specific conferences. We aim for a mix of classes learning alone and inter-class educational experiences.

Academic Half-Day

Academic Half-Day courses address key topics in residents’ development as psychiatrists, ranging from systems to various psychotherapies to ethics. They vary in length from one to twelve months. See below to learn about the specific curriculum for each year of the residency.

  • Acute Care Interviewing 
  • Behavioral Agitation Management 
  • Clinical Skills Verification Exam
  • Electroconvulsive Therapy 
  • EDI Series: Structural Competencies 
  • Evidence-Based Medicine Boot Camp
  • Foundations of Psychiatry
  • Geriatric Psychiatry and Aging 
  • High-Yield Psychiatry
  • Human Development 
  • Intern Process Group 
  • Mindfulness and Burnout 
  • Motivational Interviewing 
  • Patient Safety/Quality Improvement Series
  • Pharmacology Jeopardy
  • Psychotherapy in Acute Care Settings
  • Residents as Teachers 
  • Secondary Trauma
  • Site-Specific Clinical Introductory Series
  • Approaches to Inpatient Opiate Use Disorders
  • Art of the Psychiatric Consult 
  • Biological Psychiatry (BIOPSY) 
  • Clinical Skills Verification Exam
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 
  • Community and Social Psychiatry 
  • EDI Series: Social Determinants of Mental Health
  • Evidence-Based Medicine Bootcamp
  • Evidence-Based Medicine Course 
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills 
  • Foundations of Psychotherapy 
  • Introduction to Acute Care Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  • Law and Psychiatry 
  • Orientation to Outpatient Psychiatry 
  • Patient Safety/Quality Improvement Series
  • Pediatric Collaborative Care 
  • PGY2 Process Group 
  • Sexuality and Gender
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
  • Approaches to Inpatient Opiate Use Disorders
  • Attachment and Trauma 
  • Biological Psychiatry (BIOPSY)
  • Career Series I 
  • Clinical Skills Verification Exam
  • CME and Lifelong Learning
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 
  • Continuous Case Conference (Psychodynamic/CBT)
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy 
  • DukeLine and Text Psychiatry
  • Finance for Physicians
  • History of Psychiatry 
  • Interdisciplinary Approaches to Trauma 
  • Introduction to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy - Technique
  • Outpatient Addiction Psychiatry
  • Palliative Care and Psychiatry
  • Patient Safety Event Review Series
  • PGY3 Process Group
  • Psychiatric Ethics
  • Psychodynamic Psychotherapy I
  • Quality and Patient Safety
  • Scientific Writing
  • Substance Use Disorders
  • Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
  • Advanced Topics in Addiction Psychiatry
  • Advanced Topics in Community and Social Psychiatry
  • Advanced Topics in Psychiatry
  • Capstone
  • Career Series II
  • Clinical Skills Verification Exam
  • Consolidations of Psychiatry: PGY4→1 teaching experience 
  • Continuous Case Conference (Psychodynamic/CBT)
  • Eating Disorders 
  • EDI Series (Anti-Racism) 
  • Effective Teaching in Psychiatry
  • Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP)
  • Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Psychotherapy 
  • Perinatal Psychiatry
  • Prescribing Wisely
  • Psychodynamic Psychotherapy II
  • Research Literacy
  • Safety Event Review Series/QI
  • EDI Series 
  • QI (Incident Review, PDSA Cycle Project Review) 
  • Residency Elective Fair, Residency Retreat
  • Special Residency Education Days

Weekly conferences include:

  • Chair’s Conference
  • Med-Psych Conference
  • Psychiatry Grand Rounds
  • VA Evidence-Based Medicine Conference
  • Site-Specific Educational Conferences (e.g., Journal Club)

Duke also provides many opportunities for interdepartmental collaboration and committee participation for interested residents.