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Clinical Study Guide for the Oral Boards in Psychiatry

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i recently found out that i passed the psychiatry part ii oral board exam!!! i have to tell you that this book was absolutely an integral part of my studies. yes, you need to know effective interviewing skills but don't let anyone tell you that you do not need basic psychiatry knowledge for the oral boards. in fact, ALL the questions the examiners asked me had something to do with basic, theoretical pscyhiatry. this book is a MUST read for anyone preparing for the oral boards. it is complete, concise and manageable. the most notable aspect about this book is that all diagnoses are presented in a biopsychosocial context. also, all the latest treatments are discussed. well, for some advice...the test IS difficult, you WILL be anxious and you WILL feel like you have been hit by a brick by the time you leave the exam BUT if you know the basics, be kind and nice to BOTH the patient and the examiners and cover the core concepts(lethality and substance use), you should pass. i passed the first time.

This book provides exactly what I was looking for in preparation for the ABPN Part II exam. I wanted a high-yield review without having to read the entire DSM (I'm just not that fast a reader!) My exam is this weekend, and I feel well-prepared.

Great overview of topics with enough detail in each to cover what may be reasonably asked during the oral boards in psychiatry. Currently using as a primer for the Canadian oral boards in psychiatry and supplementing with the Canadian practice guidelines.
Update: November 2010---I passed my oral boards!

I read this to review for the oral boards. It was well organized and fairly concise (I read it in a week). The information was useful for the Boards, especially reviewing all of the differential diagnoses. My only complaint is that it would have been helpful to have an Oral Board 'strategy' section to give tips on organizing your interview and presentation.

If you are a psychiatry resident , don't hesitate and buy it, it will help you with the biopsychosocial.

If you want to read just one book, read this one to beat the Oral boards.
(Although it is too detailed for Part-II, and therefore excellent for Part I as well). For Part II don't focus on small details, rather pick up the clinical and practical points. I passed my boards easily in the very first attempt. This book helped me with that.

This was a good study guide, as it covered basic material that I had already forgotten from step 1, and had some tie-ins to how this material could be asked during the boards. It took about 4 weeks to get through the book, reading a little bit every day. I would use it again and recommend it. It did not, however, cover the information asked during my oral exam at the San Diego Naval Medical Center, which was, "How would you take care of this patient on a submarine?" I kid you not, I was really asked that.

Edited to add: I passed! Yay! They send out the letters in less than a month. I guess I'm qualified to practice "naval medicine!"

More comprehensive than the previous edition. Required reading for anyone taking the psychiatry oral boards.

|TITLE| Clinical Study Guide for the Oral Boards in Psychiatry
|AUTHOR|
· Nathan R. Strahl, M.D., PhD
· Consulting Association
· Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
· Duke University Medical Center
|AUTHOR E-MAIL| Nathan_Strahl@yahoo.com
|REVIEWER|
· Josh Grossman, Colonel {r}, U.S. Army Medical Corps, M.D., FACP
|BOOK TYPE| soft cover
|BOOK PAGES| 489 pages
|BOOK EDITION| Fourth Edition
|COPYRIGHT| 2011
|PUBLISHER| American Psychiatric Publishing Incorporated
|ISBN| 978-1-58562-412-6
|PAPER TYPE| Alkaline Paper

"What you are now doing to prepare for the Oral Psychiatry Board Examination represents a behavior that you should continue throughout the remaining years of your clinical practice." Nathan R. Strahl, M.D., PhD

Here follow but a few of the gems in this cornucopia-of-knowledge provided by Duke Psychiatry Professor Nathan R. Strahl, M.D. PhD:
· The sine qua non {1} of a passing grade on our Oral Psychiatry Board Examination is the building of a rapport with the identified patient by the candidate by endorsing kind, empowering phrases for example, "I can see you are working hard to get better!" {2}
· The candidate must and will be collegial with the examiner not adversarial, not guarded, not defensive, and the candidate must and will be always open to the suggestions of the examiner.
· The candidate must and will plan on six months of preparation such that the examiner will feel comfortable in referring one of his (or her) private patients to the candidate.
· The candidate must and will recognize the essence of the Oral Boards in Psychiatry, "To see if you can provide a broad differential (of reasonable diagnoses) and then support your position {3}; that is, support your one reasonable diagnosis."
· Caveat {4}: the candidate must and will always and uniformly consider substance abuse (including over-the-counter pharmaceuticals) as the cause of a psychosis prior to and before entertaining the diagnosis of schizophrenia especially in those identified patients with reasonably good pre-morbid social and good pre-morbid occupational functioning.
· The candidate is further enjoined to, "Start low and go slow," when providing tricyclic antidepressants {T.C.A.'s} for a major depressive disorder {M.D.D.} with consideration of a baseline electrocardiogram {E.C.G.} in somewhat elderly patients.
· The candidate is reasonably expected to learn the following Psychopharmacotherapy Axiom: {the candidate will reasonably expect a positive therapeutic response when the correct drug is used at the correct dosage for the correct duration, for the correct diagnosis.}
· The candidate is reasonably expected to learn the contraindications to medications; e.g. Lithium must not and will not be used in a patient with a Sick-Sinus-Syndrome {5}.
· The candidate is reasonably expected to search for a reversible dementia; e.g. Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus manifested by the triad of urinary incontinence, gait disturbance, and a perhaps reversible dementia; must and will be aware of dementia due to Neurosyphilis, and dementia due to Lyme Disease.
· The candidate will read reasonable portions of our medical and our surgical literature to learn of underlying, treatable, correctable, medical and surgical issues ongoing in our patients hospitalized on our psychiatric units {6}.
This exemplary blend of clinical knowledge plus medical judgment enhanced with the practical know-how; the down-to-earth do's and don'ts that a candidate for the Oral Boards in Psychiatry surely must know in order to reasonably expect to pass the Oral Board Examination in Psychiatry should be on the Reserve Shelves of any and all of our College of Medicine Libraries.
I plan to keep this book-of-wisdom on my desk as a ready teaching reference.

|REFERENCES|
1. Sine Qua Non {Latin} figuratively: indispensable action or ingredient; literally: without which not.
2. Preface pages xxiv and xxv.
3. Page 35
4. Caveat {Latin} warning or proviso.
5. Sick sinus syndrome: --a type of bradycardia (slowing of the pulse i.e. heart rate) in which the sinus node (Sino-atrial node) in the heart is not working, as it should.
6. Grossman, Joshua B. "Detox Diagnostics--Keeping Medicine in Psychiatry," Psychiatric Times, Volume XIV, Issue 01, January 2002.
Students and residents who wish to study with Doctor Josh can most reasonable contact him via e-mail <drjosh@embarqmail.com>