Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry

Pre-Doctoral Clinical Psychology Internship Program 2009-2010
- NEUROPSYCHOLOGY ROTATIONS

• Neuropsychology Major Rotation
• Neuropsychology Minor Rotation

Neuropsychology Major Rotation

• Structure:
  Three, 4-month, 3-day per week Major Rotations will be completed.  The intern will rotate with three of the faculty members, Drs. Carey, Haut, Lonser or Moran. The primary difference among rotations is the supervising faculty member. All three rotations will focus primarily on assessment with a wide variety of outpatient populations, including neurological, neurosurgical, medical and psychiatric patients.  Evaluations are also performed with inpatients in the psychiatric hospital and in consultation to various services in Ruby Memorial hospital.  A variety of specialized activities are available to interns on major rotations, which are typically pursued once the intern is accomplished with the basic assessment tools, procedures, and report writing. This may include experiences in the Brain Tumor Clinic, Epilepsy Surgery Program, and the Memory Disorders Clinic.

• Brain Tumor Clinic:
  The brain tumor clinic is a multidisciplinary clinic run in conjunction with neurosurgeons, oncologists, and radiation oncologists.  Patients are seen in the Cancer Centerfor neurobehavioral evaluations, which may produce referrals for more formal evaluation.  This clinic is staffed by Dr. Haut. Interns participating in this activity typically attend the brain tumor rounds prior to clinic, in which patient progress, neuroimaging, and treatment issues are reviewed.

• Epilepsy Surgery Program:
  This program consists of a team of neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuroradiologists, and neuropsychologists.  Patients are evaluated by each of these disciplines to determine whether surgical treatment may be beneficial in reducing or eliminating seizures. Experiences available to interns through this program include performing pre- and post-surgical neuropsychological evaluations, attending multidisciplinary treatment team meetings, participating in intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) evaluations, and observing neurosurgery. The neuropsychological component of this program is staffed by Dr. Moran.

• Memory Disorders Clinic:
  This group includes two physicians (a psychiatrist and a neurologist), social work faculty, clinic manager and neuropsychologist.  Neuropsychological evaluations are conducted in conjunction with the patient’s comprehensive medical work-up.  Interns participating in this clinic will be able to attend the interdisciplinary team meeting in which patient evaluations are discussed and feedback sessions are planned. Interns may also participate in feedback sessions.  Drs. Moran and Haut staff this clinic

• Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit Orientation Group: (required)
  This is a daily group therapy meeting conducted on the PICU.  The goal of the group is to provide a forum for communication and discussion among the inpatients on the unit.  The group treatment experience provides interns with a chance to interact with individuals suffering from severe mental illness and provides a valuable service for the patients and the operations of the unit.  Training in conducting the group will occur during the first month of the internship, conducted by the faculty supervisors, Drs. Moran and Wilson.  During the training period, new interns co-lead the group twice per week with faculty or postdoctoral resident.  Once independent, each intern will be responsible for the group one hour per week. Weekly group supervision meetings are conducted.

• Supervision:
  Individual supervision is conducted on a weekly basis to review evaluation results and reports. In addition, supervision occurs prior to the arrival of a client, during which time records are reviewed and an assessment strategy is planned. Supervision also occurs during the assessment day to address problems or questions as they are encountered and adjust the assessment accordingly.

Note: These experiences are in accord with the Houston Conference guidelines for the training of neuropsychologists.

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Neuropsychology Minor Rotation

A six-month, two days per week minor rotation is available to all interns; no previous neuropsychological experience is required. Minor rotations are offered individually by each of the Neuropsychology faculty. The minor rotation experience will be tailored to the level of experience of the intern.  Activities will initially involve training in neuropsychological test administration.  Interns will transition towards independence as the rotation progresses.  Minor interns conduct one evaluation per week and run the PICU group therapy one day per week (see above).  Minor interns spend the remainder of their time scoring tests, dictating reports, in didactics, and in supervision.  The majority of the evaluations will take place in the general outpatient neuropsychology clinic with adult patients, but exposure to the specialty clinics is also available.

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