Hardik Yadav, M.D.

Being a third year resident is very exciting as it mostly consists of outpatient clinics and I have my own office.  I work most of the days from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. My typical day starts with seeing several patients with multiple problems and different diagnoses. Most of the patients I see in a day are for medication management. I also get the opportunity to do an initial evaluation on at least 1-2 new patients to the clinic every day. I work closely with the patients and come up with a treatment plan. After formulating my treatment plan, I meet with the attending physician on duty to discuss the treatment plan. During my meeting with the attending, we discuss the rationale of choosing any medication and their common side effects and interactions with other medications. On Thursday afternoon, we have bipolar clinic and I work with the attending that is an expert in managing bipolar illness.  I spend ½ day each week with my long term psychotherapy patients. I implement different psychotherapy techniques including cognitive behavioral, psychodynamic, supportive and interpersonal psychotherapy to help my patients. I also meet with my long term supervisor once a week for  an hour to discuss my psychotherapy patients. It’s a tremendous learning experience. Working in an outpatient clinic not only gave me in depth knowledge about pharmacology but also taught me system-based learning too.  I get enough time to read and expand my knowledge in third year.  Also, there is significant decrease in the frequency of overnight calls in Emergency Psychiatry Services and weekend responsibilities. That means more time to rest and recharge myself for the next week.  I feel much more confident about the patient management in my third year. Overall, third year is about more autonomy, more learning and more time to spend with your loved ones!!!!