Congratulations to the residents for their performance on the 2009 Columbia Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Competency Test, an exam given to residency programs across the country that evaluates proficiency in the theory and practice of psychodynamic psychotherapy.
Of the 74 programs tested across the country, our residents far out-ranked most of their peers, as follows:
PGY-4 #8
PGY-3 #6
PGY-2 #13
PGY-1 #20
Program Rank #17
These results demonstrate yet again that our more senior residents are in, or near, the top ten of all residency programs in this country. Furthermore, the rank of the PGY-1's indicates great potential for this group having only been minimally exposed to teaching in this set of skills prior to taking the exam. Lastly, the fact that this year three PGY-4 residents took an advanced elective in psychodynamic psychotherapy suggests that this additional work has assisted these residents in retaining and reinforcing the training received in previous years. Significantly, the overall program rank of #17 shows impressive improvement in our program's standing over even our recent years of excellent performance.
Although the credit should go to the residents themselves, I would like to thank all of the psychodynamic psychotherapy supervisors and instructors who have contributed to the residents' development of these psychotherapy skills. And a word of appreciation to the culture of our Department, which is supportive of the achievement of proficiency in psychotherapy as an important part of the professional development of the psychiatrist-in-training.