Philosophy And Goals Of The Internship

The Clinical Psychology Internship at Nassau University Medical Center was begun in 1968 and has been continuously accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1971. Our internship is designed to provide advanced graduate students in clinical psychology with well-rounded, intensively supervised training in clinical psychology in both inpatient and outpatient settings. We are dedicated to providing quality psychological services to a demographically and diagnostically diverse patient population in a public medical center. We believe psychological practice must be based on the science of psychology. Therefore, we train interns to work as practitioners informed by research and scholarly work. Our goal is to train competent and effective generalist clinicians who may also obtain specialty training during the year.

We encourage interns to think and work from divergent theoretical perspectives, and provide supervision from psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, family systems, and integrative orientations. Our interns have a core experience of intensively supervised psychotherapy and psychological assessment experiences in both inpatient and outpatient settings. We believe one strength of our program is that we teach the application of psychoanalytic principles to the treatment of severe psychopathology. We also teach the application of these principles in time-limited treatment with a diagnostically diverse patient population. Interns train in inpatient and outpatient settings, work with diverse patient populations, and use a variety of treatment modalities. The various modalities include: outpatient individual and group psychotherapy; diagnostic interviewing and crisis intervention; milieu, group, and time-limited individual treatment on acute care inpatient psychiatric units; and diagnostic assessment, psychological consultation, and psychotherapy in medical settings.

We believe optimal learning is achieved in an atmosphere of professionalism and respect where interns are regarded first as professionals in training and secondly as service providers. Internship faculty see their involvement with interns as a vital part of their professional identity, and this involvement contributes significantly to the cohesiveness of the Division of Psychology.

About Nassau University Medical Center

Nassau University Medical Center is a not-for-profit facility located in East Meadow, Long Island, approximately 30 miles east of New York City. Governed by a 15-member board of directors, the Medical Center is part of a 1,500 bed health care system, comprised of a 631 bed tertiary care, Level 1 Trauma Center and teaching hospital and an 889 bed skilled nursing facility. At the heart of the NUMC campus is the 19-story, 1,000,000 square foot Dynamic Care Building, which opened in 1974. The hospital is much more than a deliverer of health care; it is Long Island's largest teacher, too. The Medical Center, which is affiliated with the Health Sciences Center of the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, maintains a strong commitment to medical education and research. There are 14 residency training programs at the Medical Center. There are also training programs for other professions, such as nursing and social work.

Medical Center staff are proud of the Center’s role as a community hospital. The mission of the Medical Center is to serve the needs of all Nassau County residents regardless of age, severity of injury or illness, method of payment, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.

Nassau University Medical Center is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, and approved by the New York State Department of Health and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. It is a member of the Hospital Association of New York, the Nassau/Suffolk Hospital Council, the National Association of Public Hospitals, the American Association of Blood Banks, and the Council of Teaching Hospitals of the Association of American Medical Colleges. The A. Holly Patterson Geriatric Center is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations and approved by the New York State Department of Health.

Description Of Facilities In The Hospital Utilized By The Internship

Interns' experiences take place on the Nassau University Medical Center campus, which is comprised of an acute care teaching hospital with a broad array of inpatient and outpatient services.

The Department of Psychiatry and Psychology is among the most active providers of comprehensive mental health services on Long Island. Inpatient psychiatric units include two open adult units consisting of a total of 52 beds, one closed unit with a total of 18 beds, a 10 bed child psychiatry unit, a 10 bed inpatient substance detoxification unit, and a six bed psychiatric prison ward. A section of the Medical Center’s emergency room receives a significant number of round-the-clock emergency psychiatric visits. Interns are involved in rotations on the adult and child psychiatric units, and the substance detoxification unit, but not on the prision ward or in the emergency room. The bulk of our interns' adult outpatient experience is in Ambulatory Mental Health Services. This experience includes outpatient diagnostic interviewing and individual and group psychotherapy. Medical settings of the hospital utilized for internship experience include Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurology, and Infectious Diseases. Psychodiagnostic testing takes place in all of the aforementioned units. Interns have secretarial support, access to word processors, access to the internet, and email.

In addition to the Clinical Psychology Internship, the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology has a fully accredited four-year Residency Training Program in General Psychiatry. Interns work with psychiatric residents on outpatient cases and on the treatment teams of inpatient units. Instructors for seminars are drawn not only from the Division of Psychology but also from the psychiatric and social work staffs as well as several experts from outside the hospital.

Psychology

The Division of Psychology currently consists of 13 personnel including five full-time psychologists, two part-time psychologists, one part-time research consultant, and five psychology interns. Supervising psychologists are doctorally trained, experienced, and licensed persons, several of whom are graduates of or candidates in postdoctoral institutes of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy or child studies. Several of the senior people hold university faculty appointments. Our Psychologist-in-chief is a diplomate (ABPP). Psychologists fulfill both training and service functions. They are assigned to many areas throughout the hospital including the Child Psychiatry Unit, Ambulatory Mental Health Services, Psychiatric Inpatient Services, and Rehabilitation Medicine.

The title 'Department of Psychiatry and Psychology' is a realistic reflection of the substantial integration of the staffs of the two professions. Psychiatrists and psychologists work together on a variety of committees for such purposes as developing the training goals, content, and schedules of both the psychiatry residency and psychology intern training programs, and to monitor the effective delivery of a wide range of patient services.

The Psychology Division also has a very active Psychology Externship. Many of our staff teach and supervise psychology externs, as well as psychiatric residents, medical students, and nursing personnel.

Intern Assignments, Rotations, And Supervision

Intern assignments are comprised of required core experiences for all interns and more specialized assignments based on interns' interests. Required experiences are in general clinical psychology and elective assignments are in specialty areas.

Required experiences are as follows: Throughout the year interns are assigned individual and group therapy cases in the adult outpatient mental health clinic. Interns are also assigned diagnostic interviewing and crisis intervention cases one half-day per week throughout the year in that clinic. We design these assignments to acquaint interns with the diagnostic diversity of patients seen in our outpatient clinic, to help interns develop diagnostic and treatment planning skills, and finally, to hone interns’ therapeutic skills in a variety of modalities and theoretical models.

In addition, all interns are assigned to four-month rotations on our inpatient psychiatric units. (Each intern does three rotations over the course of the internship year.) Through these rotations, interns gain experience with a diagnostically diverse patient population, develop diagnostic skills and treatment planning strategies on short-term inpatient units, and gain experience as a psychologist on an inpatient psychiatric unit.

Interns become experienced with group, individual, milieu, psychopharmacological, and family interventions on these units. Interns may also engage in a rotation that combines experience in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation / Neuropsychology with experience on our inpatient substance detoxification unit. Interns doing this rotation gain experience in neuropsychodiagnostic assessment; psychological consultation in a medical setting; and psychotherapy (individual, group, and family) focused on issues such as catastrophic medical problems, physical disability, and pain management. On the detoxification unit, they gain experience conducting group psychotherapy with a substance abuse population.

Each intern receives at least four to five hours of supervision during each week of training. Psychotherapy, psychodiagnostic testing, and inpatient clinical responsibilities are all intensively supervised. An intern typically has two supervisors for his or her outpatient caseload, a supervisor for outpatient group psychotherapy, a supervisor for outpatient intakes, and a supervisor for his or her rotation.

Seminars

The interns have two sets of weekly seminars given by psychologists and psychiatrists of the department, and by several invited professionals who are considered experts in their specialties. Seminars are wide ranging in both content and philosophy. They include sessions on time-limited group psychotherapy; neuropsychodiagnostic assessment; multicultural issues; psychopharmacology; the etiology and treatment of schizophrenia; character disorders; family therapy; and psychotherapy of children, among others. There is a balance between theoretical seminars and case conferences in this series.

In addition to the seminar series specific to interns, interns also attend our department’s Lecture Series in Psychiatry and Psychology, where outside speakers present new research and theory on topics relevant to our field. These lectures are scheduled once a week, most weeks, from October through April. Through these lectures, psychologists in the department have available an in-house continuing education series.

Intern And Program Evaluation

The faculty provides regular feedback to interns on their progress. Formal evaluations are conducted during the year. These reports are shown to and discussed with the interns. Several staff meetings during the year are set aside for intern evaluations. The intern director communicates the findings of these evaluations, in summary form, to the universities at the middle and end of the internship.

Interns are encouraged to provide feedback to the internship director on the strengths and weaknesses of the program. There are also formal written evaluations by the interns of both supervisors and didactic seminars, which are shown to the staff member being evaluated. Administrative matters are typically taken up in monthly meetings of the full division and in monthly meetings of the interns with the director of training.

Research Opportunities And Activities

Interns are supported in initiating personal research when the facilities and population of the hospital lend themselves to such effort. The seven-day per week operation of the Medical Center and its availability to the intern is of excellent advantage in achieving research aims. Interns will also be encouraged to work on university approved dissertation proposals. Over the years, a good number of our interns have made use of our Center's populations and the guidance of members of our training staff to begin or continue their dissertation ideas and to follow them through to successful completion. Several staff members have served as readers on dissertation committees. NUMC departmental and medical libraries, as well as those of nearby universities, such as Adelphi and Hofstra, are available as research aids. The Medical Center’s library is one of the best in the New York City area.

Benefits

The internship is a full-time, 12-month commitment, beginning on July 1 and ending June 30. The annual beginning stipend for that year is $28,746. Benefits include fully paid medical and dental insurance, (which begin after six months); optical insurance (after two months), vacation and personal leave (after six months), sick time, and legal holidays.

Selection Of Interns

Interns are selected from APA accredited programs leading to a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology. Applicants must have completed three years of graduate training, including psychodiagnostic and psychotherapy practica and theory and research courses, and be recommended as ready for an internship by their program directors.

Applicants matching with us must meet several criteria in order to be employed by Nassau University Medical Center as a psychology intern. Employment is contingent upon: (1) successfully passing a physical exam at our Employee Health Services, (2) successfully passing a screening by the New York State Child Abuse Registry, and (3) successfully passing an application review and background check by the Nassau County Civil Service Commission. We have a strong commitment to cultural diversity and strongly encourage applications from minority candidates, as well as students interested in issues of diversity.

Initiation Of Application

All application materials for the internship must be received no later than November 15. Applicants must arrange, on their own initiative, to have sent to the Director, Psychology Internship, the following materials:

1) APPIC Application for Psychology Internships (AAPI) which may be obtained from the APPIC website or     university.
2) Resume of education, training, and related experience.
3) Official transcripts of all graduate work in psychology.
4) Three letters of recommendation regarding academic ability, clinical skills, and personal qualities.
5) AAPI verification form from the director of the university's clinical psychology training program attesting to the     applicant's readiness for an internship.
6) One copy each of a psychodiagnostic testing report and a treatment summary.

All application materials may be sent to us in a single envelope, but please make sure to send us official copies of transcripts.

Appointments will be made for a personal interview (a necessary step in the selection process) after screening of the above materials. All application requirements, including interviews and application forms, must be completed in order for an applicant to be considered for the internship.

The Clinical Psychology Internship at Nassau University Medical Center is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) and abides by APPIC Match Policies. No person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant. Our National Matching Service Number is 145711. To confirm the accreditation status of our internship, you may write the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, American Psychological Association, 750 First Street N.E., Washington, DC 20002-4242; or phone: (202) 336-5500. Nassau University Medical Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Address application inquiries and material to:

David Waxman, Ph.D.
Director, Psychology Internship
J Bldg./Box 48
Dept. of Psychiatry & Psychology
Nassau University Medical Center
2201 Hempstead Turnpike
East Meadow, NY 11554
Telephone: (516) 572-6746
Email: dwaxman@numc.edu