COMAT Clinical – Psychiatry

Content Outline and Assessment Objectives

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

Selected Specific Learner-Centered Objectives for Psychiatry

The osteopathic medical student examinee will be required to demonstrate the ability to:

1. Approach patient care holistically by considering physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, along with social determinants of health.
2. Diagnose and treat a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including conducting risk assessments for suicide and homicidal ideation and performing psychiatric evaluations, mental status examinations, and risk assessments.
3. Integrate didactic knowledge with clinical experiences by effectively diagnosing and managing psychiatric conditions in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
4. Develop treatment plans that address multiple facets of patient health.
5. Master the use of psychotropic medications and non-pharmacological treatments such as psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and transcranial magnetic stimulation.
6. Recognize and manage psychiatric emergencies, including acute mental health crises and substance withdrawal.

These objectives will include selected patient presentations and clinical situations involving but not limited to:

Anxiety Disorders: Trauma and Stressor Related/Dissociative Disorders; Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders: Adjustment disorder, dissociative disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and social phobia

Neurocognitive Disorders: Delirium; medication-induced altered mental status; neurocognitive disorders, including Alzheimer disease, Huntingdon disease, Lewy body, Parkinson disease, and vascular disease; sensory aphasia; and traumatic brain injury

Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Gender Dysphoria; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, conduct disorder, gender dysphoria, impulse-control disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and Tourette disorder

Depressive, Bipolar, and Related Disorders: Bipolar disorders, major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder

Personality Disorders: Antisocial personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder

Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders: Brief psychotic disorder, catatonia, delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, and tardive dyskinesia

Psychiatric Illness due to Another Medical Condition; Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders; Sleep-Wake Disorders: Factitious disorder; functional neurological symptom disorder (conversion disorder); illness anxiety disorder; psychiatric illness due to other conditions, including thyroid diseases, multiple sclerosis, and pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS); sleep disorders, including insomnia, narcolepsy, and restless legs syndrome; and somatic symptom disorder

Substance Related and Addictive Disorders: Gambling disorder; overdose and withdrawal; substance-induced psychotic illness; and substance use disorder, including alcohol, caffeine, cannabis, hallucinogens, inhalants, opioids; sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic; stimulant-related; tobacco

Feeding, Eating, and Elimination Disorders; Sexual Dysfunctions and Paraphilic Disorders: Anorexia nervosa, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, binge-eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, enuresis, encopresis, male and female sexual dysfunction disorders, medication-induced sexual dysfunction, paraphilic disorders, and pica

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.