Pediatric Psychology Track

APPIC Program Match Number 150912
Number of Internship Positions: 3

Inpatient Consultation/Liaison
A central clinical experience for all Pediatric Psychology Track interns is the consultation/liaison service.  Inpatient consultations reflect the diversity of the Nationwide Children's Hospital general pediatric mandate and are received from various services, including the Burn Unit, Hematology/Oncology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Pulmonary, Gastroenterology, Neurology, NICU/PICU, and Endocrinology.  The Department of Psychology completes around 2000 inpatient consultations per year.

Inpatient consultation requests may involve pain management strategies, a diagnostic assessment, behavioral interventions to improve disease self-management, facilitating patient and family adjustment to a medical diagnosis, or coordinating a family meeting to discuss discharge and aftercare plans.

Faculty members distribute consults so that over the course of the year, interns are exposed to patients of different ages and presenting problems. Interns manage approximately 200 inpatient medical consultations during the course of the year.

Outpatient Therapy
Interns maintain an outpatient treatment caseload of approximately 8-10 outpatients.  Referrals are varied and include children and adolescents with difficulties secondary to chronic illness, adjustment difficulties, functional disorders, behavioral problems, and family difficulties. 

Psychological Assessment
Pediatric Psychology Track interns complete approximately one or two supervised psychological assessments each month.  Referral questions typically include school placement, developmental delays, behavioral problems, and the effects of chronic illness on cognitive and emotional functioning.  Other opportunities for assessment may include more medically-oriented evaluations such as pre-surgical assessments.  Interns complete at least 14 separate psychological assessments during the internship year.  Those 14 assessments include at least one child from each of the following age ranges: preschool, school-age, and adolescent.

Neuropsychological assessment experience may be available to the pediatric psychology track intern, depending on the intern’s interests and prior experience.  Interns are expected to complete one assessment every 3 weeks, for a total of 15 assessments during the training year.  They also attend the weekly Neuropsychology Seminar.

Hours
Pediatric psychology interns work five days per week, although rotating responsibility for coverage of weekend consultations is necessary.  Hours worked per week vary, but are generally 40-50, depending on case load, special interests, and consultation coverage.