Psychiatry Externship Program
St. Elizabeths Hospital

St. Elizabeths welcomes your interest in our psychiatry externship program; our Hospital has a long tradition of training medical students and graduate physicians in psychiatry.  Externs at St. Elizabeths are volunteers; thus the Hospital does not offer any financial compensation or benefits to doctors during the externship period.  St. Elizabeths Hospital does provide liability coverage, however, for an extern's work at the Hospital performed under the supervision of an attending psychiatrist. 

Externs work under the direct supervision of an attending psychiatrist and are involved in clinical interviewing, history gathering, assessments and disposition planning.  In addition, they participate in weekly didactic seminars and interviewing conferences.  The externship is sixteen weeks in duration and externs are expected to work full-time Mondays through Fridays.  There are no weekend or on-call responsibilities.

Applications are reviewed in the order they are received.  Selected applicants are invited for interviews in April, August or December.  Please note that due to the volume of applications, we are unable to return phone or email inquiries about the status of your application.  You will be contacted ONLY if you are selected for an interview.  Please also note that not being selected for an interview or as an extern does not reflect on you personally, but rather is the result of our having very many well-qualified candidates for a small number of positions. 

The Externship is looking for applicants who are professional, mature, psychologically-minded and culturally-competent.  Applicants must have excellent communication skills in spoken and written English and excellent comprehension of English.   Applicants must have graduated from medical school and have passed USMLE step I, II CK and II CS.  Applicants who have passed step III and those with USMLE scores greater than or equal to 85 are preferred.

Please note that having completed our externship program guarantees neither an interview for, nor a position in, St Elizabeths Hospital Psychiatry Residency Training Program. 

If you wish to apply to the Externship, please send via US Mail (applications sent via fax or email are not reviewed):

Cover Letter (with contact information)
Personal Statement
Curriculum Vitae (in chronological order)
Three letters of recommendation (from physicians familiar with your work) 
Copies of USMLE Score Reports 
Signed Statement re: history of USMLE exams (see below)
Copy of ECFMG Certificate
Copies of Medical School Diploma and Transcripts

to the following address:

S. Atdjian, MD
Director of Medical Student Education & Externship Program
St. Elizabeths Hospital
Barton Hall, Room 264
2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave, SE
Washington , D.C. 20032

***EXAMPLE*** Statement re: History of USMLE/ NBME/ FMGEMS/ FLEX Exams The following is a complete chronological list of all the exams that I have taken in order to get my ECFMG Certificate/ eligibility for medical licensure in the United States:  Name of the Exam Test Date Pass/ Fail Two Digit Score Minimum Passing Score Comments NBME Part I   02/03/1980 F 68 75   FLEX Part I   05/05/1988 F X XX   USMLE Step 1 02/03/ 1993 F 74 75   USMLE Step 2 CK 09/03/2004 P 80 75   USMLE Step 2 CS 12/03/2004 F       USMLE Step 2 CS 03/07/2005 P       USMLE Step 1 09/30/2005 P 76 75   USMLE Step 3 12/17/2005 F 70 75   USMLE Step 3 05/22/2006 P 80 75   I state that the above information is complete and true to the best of my knowledge   Signature______________________________                 Date ___________________   Printed Name ___________________________________