Child and Adolescent Fellowship Facilities
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest
Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Cedar Crest is one of the largest and oldest licensed teaching hospitals in Pennsylvania. It’s a 729-bed tertiary care hospital and is recognized for its accomplishments as a leading community-based medical center. Residents will spend time at this site when they rotate on the consult liaison service. The psychiatric consult liaison team consists of board-certified psychiatrists, advanced practice clinicians and other clinical staff who specialize in the link between physical and mental disorders.
The service provides mental health evaluation and consultation services for patients in medical areas of the hospital. The service also includes psychiatric medication management for patients with medical comorbidities, as well as treatment recommendations for patients with catastrophic illnesses in trauma, burn and other medical units.
Residents will spend time at this site when they rotate on the consultation liaison service as well as other non-psychiatric rotations.
LVH–Muhlenberg
Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Muhlenberg is a 195-bed acute care facility which houses inpatient psychiatric services. Located in the Behavioral Health Science Center on the LVH–Muhlenberg campus, the adult inpatient psychiatric center is a 52-bed program offering a full range of services provided by an interdisciplinary treatment team of board-certified psychiatrists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, psychiatric nurses, licensed social workers and professional counselors, rehabilitation specialists, a medical doctor and other mental health professionals. Individual, group and family sessions, with a clear focus on education and support, help patients begin putting their lives back on track. Treatment is focused on stabilization so that care is safely and effectively provided in an outpatient setting as soon as possible. Each patient receives an individualized treatment plan, relating to the specific issues that need to be addressed to move out of crisis. Discharge planning and arrangement for outpatient support services are a major focus in the plan and begin immediately upon admission.
Residents will spend two months on the adolescent psychiatry inpatient unit. Also located in the Behavioral Health Science Center, the 13-bed unit is bright, cheerful and specially-designed to help adolescents feel at home. At the same time, the unit is equipped to protect and care for adolescents with a serious mental health crisis. Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital staff provides medical care. The adolescent unit treats patients ages 12 to 18, utilizing an interdisciplinary treatment team, including a schoolteacher – all highly skilled and dedicated to the special needs of teens. Families are an important part of the team as well and are encouraged to learn more about the teen’s problems, how they may help in the recovery process, and to learn tips on how they can care for themselves in handling what may be an all-consuming issue in family life.
Residents will also spend time here on emergency psychiatry as well as with the dedicated resident-run consultation liaison teaching service.
Mental health clinics
During postgraduate year three (PGY-3), residents will spend two days per week at one of two mental health clinics. With many decades of dedicated service to our community, each of our clinics provides psychiatric assessment and treatment to adults, ages 18 and older. Patients are typically those whose mental illness is anticipated to be of a long-term nature and who require additional case management and community support. Staffed by board-certified psychiatrists, a physician assistant, psychiatric nurses and licensed social workers and other clinicians, the programs offer comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, individual, family and group therapy, and medication management. These programs are funded, in part, under a contract with Lehigh County Department of Human Services through funds provided by County of Lehigh and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
LVPG outpatient practices
In PGY-3 and PGY-4, residents will follow a cohort of outpatients in one of two large group practices, which are part of LVPG. These practices provide short-term, outpatient care for children, adolescents, adults, older adults, couples and families who are having trouble coping with a variety of disorders and issues. Staff includes board-certified adult and child and adolescent psychiatrists; advanced practice clinicians such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants; master’s-level therapists such as licensed clinical social workers and licensed professional counselors; psychiatric nurses; licensed psychologists; and other mental health professionals. All staff are highly-skilled, experienced and dedicated to compassionate and comprehensive care of individuals and families. Especially noteworthy, each of these programs includes board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrists who offer a full range of evaluation and treatment services to children and teens.