Mission Statement: Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Physicians Internship Program is dedicated to developing future leaders in clinical psychology. We provide comprehensive training that combines clinical practice, research, and education in a supportive environment. Our mission is to equip interns with the knowledge, skills, and ethical foundation needed to excel in neuropsychological assessment" to excel in clinical psychology with an emphasis on preparation for advanced training in clinical neuropsychology, contribute to scientific advancements, and promote mental health and well-being in diverse populations.
Goal #1: To prepare the psychology intern as an entry-level practitioner with knowledge, skills, and abilities to practice professional psychology.
Our aim is to train interns to have intermediate to advanced skills in the areas of productive professional relationship skill building, diagnostic interviewing, psychological/neuropsychological assessment, short-term psychotherapy and intervention, consultation-liaison services, and working in a multi-disciplinary setting with the provision of supervision.
Objective(s) for Goal #1:
Objective A: Develop productive and professional relationships in the practice of psychology.
Objective B: Complete competent psychological/neuropsychological assessments, diagnosis, and case conceptualization.
Objective C: Treat a variety of psychological disorders and promote health and well-being with short-term psychotherapy and intervention.
Objective D: Conduct appropriate consultation-liaison service within hospital setting.
Objective E: Work effectively in a multidisciplinary setting with provision of supervision.
Competencies Expected:
- A.1. Ability to take a respectful, helpful professional approach to patients/clients/families.
- A.2. Ability to form a working alliance.
- A.3. Ability to deal with conflict and negotiate differences.
- A.4. Ability to understand and maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
- A.5. Ability to work collegially with fellow professionals.
- A.6. Ability to support others and their work and to gain support for one’s own work.
- A.7. Ability to provide helpful feedback to peers and receive such feedback non-defensively from peers.
- A.8. Ability to work collaboratively with the supervisor.
- A.9. Ability to prepare for supervision.
- A.10. Ability/willingness to accept supervisory input, including direction; ability to follow through on recommendations; ability to negotiate needs for autonomy from and dependency on supervisors.
- A.11. Ability to self-reflect and self-evaluate regarding clinical skills and use of supervision, including using good judgment as to when supervisory input is necessary.
- A.12. Ability to be respectful of support staff roles and persons.
- A.13. Ability to participate fully in team’s work.
- A.14. Ability to understand and observe team’s operating procedures.
- A.15. Ability to communicate professionally and work collaboratively with community professionals.
- A.16. Ability to understand and observe agency’s operating procedures.
- A.17. Ability to participate in furthering the work and mission of the clinical site.
- A.18. Ability to contribute in ways that will enrich the site as a clinical experience for future students.
- B.1. Ability to select and implement multiple methods and means of evaluation in ways that are responsive to and respectful of diverse individuals, couples, families, and groups.
- B.2. Ability to utilize systematic approaches to gathering data to inform clinical decision making.
- B.3. Knowledge of psychometric issues and bases of assessment methods.
- B.4. Knowledge of issues related to integration of different data sources.
- B.5. Ability to integrate assessment data from different sources for diagnostic purposes.
- B.6. Ability to formulate and apply diagnoses; to understand the strengths and limitations of current diagnostic approaches.
- B.7. Capacity for effective use of supervision to implement and enhance skills.
- B.8. Demonstrates knowledge of at least 2 case conceptualization models and uses case conceptualization in treatment planning.
- C.1. Ability to formulate and conceptualize cases.
- C.2. Ability to plan treatments.
- C.3. Ability to implement intervention skills, covering a wide range of developmental, preventive and “remedial” interventions, including psychoeducational interventions, crisis management and psychological/psychiatric emergency situations, depending on the focus and scope of the clinical site.
- C.4. Knowledge regarding the concept of empirically supported practice.
- C.5. Knowledge regarding specific empirically supported treatment methods.
- C.6. Ability to apply specific empirically supported treatment methods.
- C.7. Assessment of treatment progress and outcome.
- C.8. Effective use of supervision to implement and enhance skills.
- D.1 Knowledge of the unique patient care roles of other professionals.
- D.2. Understanding of the consultant’s role as an information provider to another professional who will ultimately be the patient care decision maker.
- D.3. Ability to choose an appropriate means of assessment to answer referral questions.
- D.4. Ability to implement a systematic approach to data collection in a consultative role.
- D.5. Consultative reports are well organized, succinct, and provide useful and relevant recommendations to other professionals.
- E.1. Ability to effectively relate to other professionals in accordance with their unique patient care roles.
- E.2. Capacity for dialoguing with other professionals which avoids use of psychological jargon.
- E.3. Demonstrates awareness and knowledge of key issues and concepts about related disciplines
Goal #2: To develop the ability to provide clinical services to diverse populations.
Objective(s) for Goal #2:
Objective A: Interns will be aware of their own cultural values and how their own particular cultures' representation influences the therapeutic relationship and work with diverse clients.
Objective B: Interns will be aware of normal psychological functioning and psychopathological functioning presentations for persons of minority culture.
Objective C: Appreciate how cultural and individual differences affect performance on psychological tests and measures.
Competencies Expected:
- A.1. Knowledge of self in the context of diversity (one’s own attitudes, stimulus value, and related strengths/limitations) as one operates in the clinical setting with diverse others (i.e., knowledge of self in the diverse world).
- B.1. Knowledge about the nature and impact of diversity in different clinical situations (e.g., clinical work with specific racial/ethnic populations).
- C.1. Ability to work effectively with diverse others in assessment, treatment, and consultation.
Goal #3: To develop an ethical and legally responsible framework by which the psychology intern will practice his/her clinical skills.
Objective(s) for Goal #3:
Objective A: Knowledge of ethical/professional codes, standards, and guidelines; knowledge of statutes, rules, regulations, and case law relevant to the practice of psychology.
Objective B: Interns will recognize and analyze ethical, legal, and professional conduct.
Objective C: Practice ethical, legal, and professional psychological principles and codes.
Competencies Expected:
- A.1. Knowledge of ethical/professional codes, standards, and guidelines; knowledge of statutes, rules, regulations, and case law relevant to the practice of psychology.
- B.1. Recognize and analyze ethical and legal issues across the range of professional activities in the clinical setting.
- B.2. Recognize and understand the ethical dimensions/features of his/her own attitudes and practice in the clinical setting.
- C.1. Seek appropriate information and consultation when faced with ethical issues.
- C.2. Practice appropriate professional assertiveness related to ethical issues (e.g., by raising issues when they become apparent to the student).
- C.3. Evidence commitment to ethical practice.
Goal #4: Interns will be able to provide competent supervision in a clinical setting.
Objective(s) for Goal #4:
Objective A: Knowledge based supervisory and teaching skills
Objective B: Practice based supervisory and teaching skills.
Competencies expected:
- A.1. Knowledge of literature on supervision (e.g., models, theories, & research).
- A.2. Knowledge concerning how clinicians develop to be skilled professionals.
- A.3. Knowledge of how supervision/teaching responds appropriately to individual and cultural differences.
- B.1. Knowledge of methods and issues related to evaluating professional work, including delivering formative and summative feedback.
- B.2. Knowledge of limits of one’s supervisory skills and teaching competencies.
- B.3. Knowledge of how supervision/teaching responds appropriately to individual and cultural differences.
Goal #5: Prepare interns to understand and develop administrative, management, and supervision skills while understanding personal boundaries of competence as a provider of health care.
Objective(s) for Goal #5:
Objective A: Management and administrative leadership skills.
Objective B: Reflective practice and self-assessment.
Competencies expected:
- A.1. Timeliness: completing professional tasks in allotted/appropriate time (e.g., evaluations, notes, reports); arriving promptly at meetings and appointments.
- A.2. Developing an organized, disciplined approach to writing and maintaining notes and records.
- A.3. Understand the relationship between roles of supervisor, manager, and executive.
- A.4. Ability to identify leadership, business, and management skills.
- A.5. Understand the basics of financial management as it pertains to clinical service delivery.
- A.6. Understand the purpose and structure of meetings and how to run them well.
- B.1. Knowing the extent and limits of one’s skills; learning how to evaluate one’s clinical skills.
- B.2. The ability to use supervision, consultation, and other resources to improve and extend skills (note the related relationship competence – to work collegially and responsively with supervisors).
- B.3. Knowledge of the process for extending current skills into new areas.
- B.4. Commitment to life-long learning and quality improvement.
- B.5. Awareness of one’s identity as a psychologist, i.e. knowing what one knows and can do (and should do) as a psychologist.
- B.6. How to self-identify personal distress, particularly as it relates to clinical work.
- B.7. How to seek and use resources that support healthy functioning when experiencing personal distress.
- B.8. Organizing one’s day, including time for notes and records, rest and recovery etc.
Goal #6: To integrate and apply scientific knowledge, methods, research and evaluation into the clinical practice of psychology.
Objectives for Goal #6:
Objective A: Scientific knowledge and methods
Objective B: Research and evaluation
Competencies expected:
- A.1. Demonstrates consideration of biological, cognitive-affective, and developmental bases of human behavior.
- A.2. Clinical practice is informed by scientifically-derived knowledge and empirically-supported practice.
- A.3. Demonstrates respect for scientifically-derived knowledge, data collection, and statistical analytic techniques.
- B.1. Demonstrates an awareness of research literature related to professional practice.
- B.2. Demonstrates basic skills necessary for conducting treatment outcome assessments.
- B.3. Understands the basic principles and methods of quality assurance and performance improvement activities.