The one-year Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship curriculum offers advanced training in both inpatient and correction settings.
Dell Medical School collaborates with forensic psychiatry programs across Texas, drawing on faculty from The University of Texas, Texas Tech University and Baylor College of Medicine systems to provide an engaging didactic curriculum.
Scholarship
All core forensic faculty regularly participate in clinical teaching, interdisciplinary team meetings and rounds, and educational conferences. Faculty participate in discussions led by the fellows such as case presentations and journal clubs. The Department of Psychiatry’s grand rounds are held twice a month. Fellow time during educational activities such as didactic seminars, journal clubs, case conferences and grand rounds is protected from clinical duties and responsibilities. All core forensic faculty participate in curriculum development and revision, which incorporates feedback from the fellows to improve the quality of educational offerings.
Quality Improvement
Fellows reflect on the care they provide and the systems in which they practice by developing or participating in a quality improvement and patient safety activities. Dell Medical School and Ascension Texas have resources available to assist fellows in completing these projects. Fellows complete a project during their training which may be at any site, such as in the correctional setting or forensic state hospital. This activity is supported by the clinical site and supervised by the site director and/or assigned supervisors. Project ideas may come from the fellow’s observations during routine clinical care, from discussions with their faculty supervisors at a given site, or they may join a quality improvement project already underway at a given clinical site.
Patient Safety
Fellows are expected to participate in the Department of Psychiatry’s patient safety conferences which occur at least twice per year. In these conferences, all clinical staff and trainees discuss system-wide patient safety outcomes such as the use of seclusion and restraint or emergent intramuscular medications and challenging cases in a manner akin to morbidity and mortality conferences. Fellows are expected to participate in root cause analyses that occur at Ascension Seton Shoal Creek, Travis County Jail and Correctional Complex and Austin State Hospital.