Milledgeville

[CW]

Milledgeville is an awesome site. The housing could be alot better but you get to see the full range of psychiatric illness and the docs are glad to have you there. I was the only student on the hospital campus which is huge and there is a diverse patient population. You get exposed to forensic psych as well as child psych.

[Anna Lee Glover]

I had a different experience in Milledgeville. I did not like it at all. I spent time in Forensics as well and felt very uncomfortable having to interview clients that were violent and sex offenders by myself. The doctors are nice but are not used to having students around. I would have to sit with one doctor all day and just talk to him and see maybe one patient. My average day was 9-5. Even if there were not any patients, I was not allowed to leave early. I was completely miserable, so be warned.

[CW]

This is definitely a site that is what you make of it. You can go to any division of the hospital campus (child psych, forensics, general inpatient, long-term mentally retarded care, etc). Each week I could express interest in where I wanted to go next. I did one week of admission, 2 of child psych, 2 of forensics, and 1 of long-term care. I ended up spending two weeks in forensics b/c it was interesting to me. If you wanted to see a few patients per day that could happen but if you ask the docs you can see as many patients you like. The docs are not going to hold your hand and you have to make some effort to make it a great experience. That said, all the docs were very willing to let me interview more patients if I wanted to.
About forensics-yes there are dangerous people there, but I was given the option to interview the patient with security in the room and I was given the opportunity to tape my last name on my badge so that they would not know my full name. I did not feel insecure there. I actually found it interesting and it changed my perceptions of people who are "not guilty by reason of insanity" or "incompetent to stand trial". Although not for everyone, when else willl you be able to discuss issues with a murderer, child molester, etc.

[everest]

I can see how Central State Hospital can be intimidating - even scary - but somehow, I loved it. I seriously considered switching to psych after this rotation (but I didn't). CSH was once the largest psych hospital in the nation. It has stories to tell.

There are no residents or other students, so you'll work directly with attendings. Every attending I worked with was great and laid back. One treated us to margaritas on Cinco de Mayo. If you have a special interest, ask, because they are more than happy to tailor your experience to your interest (e.g. EM can spend more time down in the ED/admissions and see unstable patients come in, OB/GYN can see more women, Peds can see kids and DD...). If you have an interest in forensics - this is your place. You will see how law and medicine interact and how the system fails some people. They have adult and peds forensics here.

You won't see your average depression or PTSD here (which you'll see on IM, OB, FM, etc so don't feel deprived). These people are really sick! You won't believe the stories they tell. You'll also see the problems with a state institution (not enough money, crowding, run-down buildings, etc.) so it's very educational.

The housing on campus was awful, but I heard they have a nice off-campus house now. There isn't much food on campus (esp for vegetarians), so bring lunch or you can leave and come back (hour lunches are the norm).

Hours: somewhat variable depending on who and where you work that week. generally 8/9am-4/5pm with hour lunches M-F. I usually left early on Fridays without problem. No weekends. There were a couple drug rep dinners that we went to, but there's not much to do at night, so it was a welcome diversion.

Milledgeville: actually a "college town", so it's better than you might expect. Small and most everything closes by 9 or 10 pm. Good pizza place with decent beer selection, coffeehouse with the only wireless internet in town, Barbaritos, good ice cream place around the corner. There's road bike groups and mtn bike trails. There's also some off-road running trails. The downtown is small. There is another strip mall area outside town - don't bother with the actual "mall". Milledgeville has a lot of history. Consider taking the walking tour (you can get the brochure at the visitor center.) Also Flannery O'Connor (writer) has a house/museum there. (I got bored, ok?)

Also, if you can, go see the CSH museum and tour (you have to ask to arrange it). They have an old straight jacket you can try on and some old surgery tools. But don't go until your last day if you stay on campus -- they tell some ghost stories and you might not sleep well afterward.