|
Neuropsychology Rotation Training Objectives
Rotation Goals and Objectives:
The following goals and objectives represent the basic framework of the Neuropsychology rotation. Each intern’s experience will include these goals but will also reflect other individualized, mutual goals as set by the intern and the supervisor.
Goal: Intern will demonstrate entry-level professional mastery in administration, scoring, and interpretation of measures of attention, memory, language, visual-spatial ability, intellectual ability, and executive functioning.
Objectives:
- Intern will observe supervisor in administration of instruments at least once, and as often as is deemed necessary by intern and supervisor.
- Intern will use locally- and nationally-referenced normative data in protocol scoring.
- Testing protocols will be jointly scored and rated by intern and supervisor until such time intern demonstrates independent ability to the supervisor.
- Testing protocols will thereafter be reviewed by supervisor for scoring and rating accuracy performed independently by the intern.
- Principles of test interpretation will be disseminated interactively during supervision and through assigned readings.
- Examples of written reports by the supervisor will be distributed to the intern to be used as models.
- Drafts of reports will be revised as needed for clarity, depth, and utility.
Goal: Intern will demonstrate ability to collect historical information from patients and collateral sources, to make standardized behavioral observations, and to provide assessment feedback to patients and collaterals as indicated.
Objectives:
- Intern will be provided with a structured interview assessing presenting complaints, medical history (including neurologic, substance abuse, and mental health diagnoses and treatment), educational/military/vocational data, personal information (including driving ability, managing home and finances, use of leisure time), and lethality.
- Intern will observe supervisor at least once, and as needed, in interviewing patients and collaterals.
- Intern and supervisor will jointly rate behavioral observations until satisfactory inter-rater reliability is reached.
- Intern will try out feedback strategies for content and style in the context of supervision before meeting with patients and families.
- Intern and supervisor will discuss the use of basic psychotherapeutic strategies in the context of interviewing and testing patients.
Goal: Intern will articulate a knowledge base in neuropsychology and neurology commensurate with entry-level professional practice.
Objectives:
- Intern will be assigned a primary textbook for the rotation, along with supplementary readings assigned to address individual case assignments.
- Intern will schedule regular reading time during tour of duty at least twice per week.
- Intern(s) will meet with supervisor weekly expressly to discuss readings and to synthesize other didactic components of the rotation with case material.
- Intern will attend Neuropsychology Seminar, Neurology symposia, Grand Rounds, Phenomenology, and brain cutting. Hospital rounds will be attended as is appropriate to intern’s schedule.
Goal: Intern will demonstrate entry-level professional proficiency in eliciting and communicating patient information from and to colleagues within and outside of the discipline of Psychology.
Objectives:
- Intern will attend interdisciplinary meetings as outlined above and will be expected to actively participate in them.
- Intern will practice, through supervision, calibration of information relative to the target audience.
- Intern will demonstrate ability to retrieve patient information from paper and electronic records, as well as from direct communication with providers from all relevant disciplines.
Goal: Intern will develop a model for supervision which best enhances his or her learning style, which will facilitate, on a parallel level, the generation of treatment plans for assigned patients.
Objectives:
- Intern will perform a self-assessment of training needs and preferences.
- A supervision agreement will be individualized to intern’s needs and preferences relative to task vs. interpersonal orientation, frequent meetings vs. autonomous work, individual vs. group supervision, focus on specialized diagnostic groups, etc.
- Weekly, informal evaluation of the teaching and supervisory process will augment formal evaluations at mid- and end of rotation.
Goal: Intern will demonstrate appropriate time management skills related to balancing patient contact, writing, didactics, and other obligations within the standard workday.
Objectives:
- Intern will block out reading and didactics time for the entire rotation.
- In the case of a split rotation, intern will meet at the beginning of the rotation (and as needed) with both supervisors together to concretize the split schedule.
- Intern will check in briefly each morning to review schedule for the day.
- Workload will be adjusted as needed to accommodate special needs (e.g., report writing, upgrade of knowledge base), but in general, the intern will be expected to complete 12-15 hours of patient contact per week for a full rotation and 6 – 7.5 hours of patient contact for a half rotation. This reflects approximately two assessments per week for a full rotation and one assessment per week for a half rotation.
|
 |
|
This web site is intended for psychology interns who are considering the VA for internships. Veterans can find VA health care information at the VISN 2 website. |
|
