Psychiatric Research Institute
Psychiatric Research Institute on the UAMS Campus in Little Rock
The Psychiatric Research Institute opened in 2008 and serves as the “home base” for the psychiatry residency. This is where residents meet for weekly didactics and lunches. PRI features several different clinical experiences for students and residents. There are four inpatient units – a General Adult Acute Inpatient Unit, Co-occurring Disorders Unit, a Women’s Unit, and the Child Diagnostic Unit, which is one of only a handful of its type in the nation. Residents spend 3 months during their PGY-1 year split between the Women’s and Co-occurring Disorders Units. The Interventional Psychiatry program offers a range of treatments, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as well as intravenous ketamine and intranasal esketamine.
In addition to its inpatient and procedural services, PRI offers a variety of outpatient programs. Residents participate in continuity clinic during their PGY-3 year through the Walker Family Clinic, our general outpatient psychiatry clinic. Specialized programs include the Women’s Mental Health Program, which focuses on psychiatric care during and after pregnancy, and the Center for Addiction Services and Treatment, which provides comprehensive addiction treatment, including methadone and buprenorphine services. Both programs are actively involved in research and offer opportunities for interested residents to participate in scholarly activities. PRI is also home to the Brain Imaging Research Center and houses an f-MRI machine. There are a number of research studies going on at any given time, and residents have the opportunity to interact with research faculty and assist with existing projects, or develop a project of their own, through the Resident Academic Track.
Arkansas State Hospital
Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock
The Arkansas State Hospital is conveniently located within walking distance of PRI. It serves the most severely and persistently mentally ill patients in the state, and is the only hospital of its kind in Arkansas. ASH has several general adult inpatient units, as well as two adolescent units (one general unit and one adolescent sex offender unit), and several forensic units. This is also the home for the UAMS Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship. Residents will spend three months in their PGY-1 year on Unit A, which is a general acute inpatient unit. Here, they care for chronically ill and treatment resistant patients, and gain experience in civil and forensic commitment procedures for mentally ill patients. This rotation also provides a unique opportunity to observe and testify in civil commitment cases in the mental health court. In addition to these rotations, there is a weekly psychopharmacology conference, which is a grand rounds-style lecture series that PGY-3s participate in as lecturers, and all residents are encouraged to attend.
Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock
The Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System consists of two hospitals – one in Little Rock, which houses medical, surgical, and emergency departments, and one in North Little Rock, which is home to both inpatient and outpatient psychiatry services in addition to other outpatient and rehabilitative units. The Little Rock VA is conveniently attached to UAMS by a sky walk. At this facility, on-call residents see acute psychiatric patients in the emergency room, PGY-1s do their neurology medicine rotations and the PGY-2s work on the consult-liaison service, where they are also exposed to ECT and ketamine infusion procedures. At the North Little Rock VA, residents work on the general inpatient unit (3K) and the inpatient geriatric unit (1H) during their PGY-2 year. There are also several addiction services available to veterans, and residents work in the anti-craving clinic to prescribe medications to assist with addiction rehabilitation. Residents also spend time in their PGY-3 year in the general outpatient psychiatry clinic, as well as MHICM (Mental Health Intensive Case Management), which serves severely mentally ill veterans in the community.
Centers for Youth & Families
The Centers for Youth & Families, where residents spend time during their PGY-3 year as part of their outpatient experience, serves as the community mental health center for the Little Rock area. The clinic provides comprehensive behavioral health services, including medication management, counseling, crisis intervention, adult day treatment, community outreach, forensic outpatient restoration, community-based support services, integrated primary care, an in-house pharmacy, and access to long-acting injectable antipsychotics. Residents play an integral role in caring for a diverse patient population, managing a broad spectrum of psychiatric illnesses, and providing care to individuals from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital
Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock
Arkansas Children’s Hospital is nationally ranked for the care they provide for pediatric patients. It is also the primary training site for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship, but general residents also spend considerable time here in their PGY-2 year gaining experience in C&A Psychiatry. The Child Study Center, the outpatient clinic, moved to a brand new building in August 2016. Residents treat children between the ages of 3-17 and gain experience in a number of psychiatric disorders affecting children. Additionally, residents rotate on the consult-liaison service for the main hospital. While ACH does not have an inpatient psychiatric unit, residents have the opportunity to evaluate emergent patients in the ER and refer them to other hospitals in the area as needed. ACH is conveniently located about three miles from UAMS, right off I-630.