COMAT Clinical – Psychiatry

Content Outline and Assessment Objectives

The exam blueprint below contains the Psychiatry topics covered in two dimensions: Dimension 1 – Patient Presentation and Dimension 2 – Physician Tasks.

Selected Specific Learner-Centered Objectives for Psychiatry

For Psychiatry, the examinee will be required to demonstrate the ability to diagnose and manage selected patient presentations and clinical situations involving, but not limited to:

1. Common Psychiatric Conditions: disorders presenting in the pediatric age group; delirium, dementia, amnestic and related disorders; schizophrenia and related disorders, psychiatric illness due to a general medical condition, somatic dysfunction in psychiatric conditions, substance-related disorders, eating disorders, sexual disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, adjustment disorders and personality disorders
2. Health Promotion/Disease Prevention/Health Care Delivery: assessment of dangerousness, genetic counseling, cross-cultural issues, physician-patient relationship, health care financing and cost effectiveness, and medical ethics
3. History and Physical Examination: assessment methods (laboratory, neuroimaging, neurophysiologic, and psychological testing), interviewing, rating scales, assessment of physical findings and historical information, mental status examination, structural examination and DSM diagnosis
4. Management: evidence-based decision making, psychosocial interventions, clinical psychopharmacology and related somatic treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy, treatment complications, osteopathic manipulative treatment and treatment guidelines/best practices
5. Scientific Understanding of Health and Disease Mechanisms: mental health epidemiology, psychosocial foundations, neurobiological foundations, epigenetics, viscerosomatic relationships and other osteopathic principles

Selected Student and Faculty Learning Resources for Psychiatry

In addition to the aforementioned objectives, examples of supplementary resources used by the NBOME to inform the development of the Psychiatry exam are listed below:

• Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry (ADMSEP) – Educational Objectives for a Junior Psychiatry Clerkship
• American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) – Educational Council on Osteopathic Principles (ECOP)
• American Osteopathic Association (AOA) – Neurology and Psychiatry

Sample Questions

The Psychiatry sample questions are primarily designed to assist the candidate in navigating through the examination, and it is provided to facilitate the actual testing experience. It is not designed to give the candidate a score or provide information about how a candidate might perform on the examination.