Training Program

C-L Psychiatry

Consultation-Liaison (C-L) Psychiatry formerly known as psychosomatic medicine, is an exciting subspecialty of psychiatry that focuses on the care of patients with comorbid psychiatric and general medical conditions. It operates at the interface between general medicine, surgery, all other specialties and psychiatry. Board certification in the field of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry requires completion of an ACGME-approved 12-month fellowship. Our program provides a unique, supervised clinical training in both inpatient hospital and outpatient clinics, based at Hartford Hospital and the Institute of Living across the street.

The Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital provides comprehensive training in both inpatient and outpatient consultative settings. Fellows rotate through diverse core and elective areas, including:

  • Core Rotations: Transplant Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine, Geriatric Medicine
  • Electives: HIV Care, Reproductive Psychiatry, Gender Health, Palliative Care, Psycho-oncology, Emergency Psychiatry, Collaborative Care Psychiatry

The program also offers an Interventional Psychiatry sub-track, with hands-on training in Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), esketamine administration, and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Completion of this track qualifies fellows for certification in Interventional Psychiatry Services (IPS), preparing graduates to lead in innovative psychiatric care.

We emphasize flexibility in elective choices and can develop new options based on individual interests. Fellowship is designed not only to build strong general CL psychiatry skills but also to allow exploration of subspecialty areas.

Our robust C-L team ensures fellows are not relied upon for service coverage. There are no call obligations, and time on service focuses on clinical growth and teaching. Hartford Hospital, the primary teaching hospital for UCONN and Quinnipiac, hosts numerous learners, psychiatry residents, fellows from other specialties, medical students, and PA students. Fellows are encouraged to actively participate in education.

Our mission

Our mission is to provide hands on clinical experience with a high level of supervision and mentorship. This is in addition to providing protected time for didactics and expanding knowledge base. We encourage our fellows to explore various interests in the subspecialty and foster and expand their specific interests through tailoring their electives and theoretical knowledge accordingly.

Training Program Components

The fellowship is comprised of roughly:

  • Inpatient consultation experience (65%), which is solely done at Hartford Hospital.
  • Outpatient clinics (20%) are also primarily on Hartford Hospital and the Institute of Living campuses.
  • Interventional Psychiatry training (5%) at the Institute of Living.
  • Didactics (10%), which comprises one-half day weekly of protected didactic time, in addition to grand rounds and case presentations. We offer training and certification in interventional psychiatry. We offer the option of an elective in Psychiatric Emergency Services, which is not a required part of the core training.

Inpatient Consultation Experience

Fellows complete their inpatient rotation at Hartford Hospital, the primary teaching hospital for the University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University. As a multidisciplinary tertiary care, Level 1 trauma center with advanced subspecialties, Hartford Hospital provides fellows with exposure to a wide range of complex pathologies in varied settings. Residents are supervised by senior consultation/liaison faculty with specialized expertise in areas such as palliative care, internal medicine, HIV disease, substance-induced syndromes and oncology.

Especially strong relationships exist with oncology, HIV, transplantation, palliative care, internal medicine, cardiology and the medical and surgical intensive care units. Patient responsibilities are balanced with their outpatient, research, elective and didactic commitments.

Outpatient Experiences and Electives

The program’s outpatient experiences will include service in the Transplant Clinic and in the HIV Clinic, as well as other sites, depending on fellows’ interests.

Depending on the fellow’s educational goals, the fellows may also choose outpatient electives such as integrated care clinic, bariatric psychiatry, palliative care clinic, addiction clinic, and other sites.

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