externship end date

[psychrat]

So I moved to another state since my internship begins in July. I signed a contract at my current externship stating that I will work until the end of June. My commute (since I do not have a car) is averaging 2.5 to 3 hours each way, which is exhausting. I have no problem working until the end of the month, but my internship starts on the 1st and my last day of externship is scheduled for June 30th. I would like to ask if I could end the week before or at the very least on the 29th, so I could have the day before internship starts to organize myself and mentally prepare for the first day. How should I go about asking? With any other supervisor I would feel ok, but my current supervisor is very strict about rules, so I feel a bit uneasy about approaching the topic. Even when I told her how long my commute takes, she said that is "typical" for some commuters. Thoughts?

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[erg923]

what kind of "contract?"

 

[psychrat]

what kind of "contract?"

Just one indicating a start date and end date, the number of days off we are allowed without makeup (which I used for internship interviews) and the amount of the small stipend that the position comes with.

 

[erg923]

Are you an employee? If not, it would seem they have little recourse.

Have they really never had to adjust due to student training demands? Seems unusual for practicum site.

 

[Justanothergrad]

Are you an employee? If not, it would seem they have little recourse.

Have they really never had to adjust due to student training demands? Seems unusual for practicum site.

+1 This.

They may classify as an employee because of the money paid, but I would scarcely let that get in the way of my training needs; I qualify time to transition between externship and internship as a training need/reasonable life decision. I highly doubt your position technically qualifies as employment with them since I suspect the wage/benefits are not met according. Also, the commute you describe doesn't sound typical for anywhere I have lived. Saying it is makes me scratch my head a bit.

 

[BuckeyeLove]

she said that is "typical" for some commuters

For real??? How does this supervisor define "typical" ? Agree with erg, it seems odd that they haven't had this situation happen before and a contingency for how to handle it. I know you said the sup. is strict about rules, but this seems like something that most reasonable supervisors would be ok with. Do you have a good working relationship with the supervisor? If so, just I would just ask. What's the worst that can happen; they say no?

 

[WisNeuro]

For me, it would depend on if I wanted to keep that bridge intact (e.g., possible postdoc or future job site). The student did make an agreement. Yes, the site should hopefully be able to work with them, but they did agree to a certain timeline. This is why I always advise students to end practica in their last year with some room to spare for internship stuff.

 

[erg923]

So I moved to another state since my internship begins in July. I signed a contract at my current externship stating that I will work until the end of June. My commute (since I do not have a car) is averaging 2.5 to 3 hours each way, which is exhausting. I have no problem working until the end of the month, but my internship starts on the 1st and my last day of externship is scheduled for June 30th. I would like to ask if I could end the week before or at the very least on the 29th, so I could have the day before internship starts to organize myself and mentally prepare for the first day. How should I go about asking? With any other supervisor I would feel ok, but my current supervisor is very strict about rules, so I feel a bit uneasy about approaching the topic. Even when I told her how long my commute takes, she said that is "typical" for some commuters. Thoughts?

Uh, 60% of the time it works every time. lol

"Typical for some commuters" doesn't make any sense....

 

[deleted343839]

So I moved to another state since my internship begins in July. I signed a contract at my current externship stating that I will work until the end of June. My commute (since I do not have a car) is averaging 2.5 to 3 hours each way, which is exhausting. I have no problem working until the end of the month, but my internship starts on the 1st and my last day of externship is scheduled for June 30th. I would like to ask if I could end the week before or at the very least on the 29th, so I could have the day before internship starts to organize myself and mentally prepare for the first day. How should I go about asking? With any other supervisor I would feel ok, but my current supervisor is very strict about rules, so I feel a bit uneasy about approaching the topic. Even when I told her how long my commute takes, she said that is "typical" for some commuters. Thoughts?

With internships starting on different dates and you having limited control over where you match, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a little flexibility. On the other hand, it seems a bit late in the game to be negotiating a new end date with just a few weeks remaining in your externship. You might have been in a better position to negotiate when you had first matched and could agree to put in some extra hours here and there in order to end your externship a few days early. Have you contacted your DCT for advice? Perhaps your DCT knows this supervisor from having facilitated prior externship placements with her and could help you.

I agree that the response re: "typical" commute time is nonsense.

 

[psychrat]

+1 This.

They may classify as an employee because of the money paid, but I would scarcely let that get in the way of my training needs; I qualify time to transition between externship and internship as a training need/reasonable life decision. I highly doubt your position technically qualifies as employment with them since I suspect the wage/benefits are not met according. Also, the commute you describe doesn't sound typical for anywhere I have lived. Saying it is makes me scratch my head a bit.

The stipend is low and I doubt they could get away with paying an actual employee that rate. The supervisor and I have a pretty good relationship, so I guess I will try and hope for the best. What scares me is that she always makes it known that when clients are not being seen (which would happen if I ended a week early), the program is losing money. I do not want to burn down any bridges for future employment at that hospital. Also, she commutes about 90 minutes each way, but I do not think that is typical for most employees and is much better than three hours. I am going to talk to her-- fingers crossed.

 

[psychrat]

With internships starting on different dates and you having limited control over where you match, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a little flexibility. On the other hand, it seems a bit late in the game to be negotiating a new end date with just a few weeks remaining in your externship. You might have been in a better position to negotiate when you had first matched and could agree to put in some extra hours here and there in order to end your externship a few days early. Have you contacted your DCT for advice? Perhaps your DCT knows this supervisor from having facilitated prior externship placements with her and could help you.

I agree that the response re: "typical" commute time is nonsense.

Originally I was going to purchase a car, which would only be a 45-60 minute commute door to door to current externship, however, I ended up moving to a place right near a train station to my new site, so there is no need for a car. Technically I would only be ending one day early (missing the last Tuesday), so we'll see . I am the first to do a placement here in my program, but I will talk to my DCT.

 

[erg923]

The stipend is low and I doubt they could get away with paying an actual employee that rate. The supervisor and I have a pretty good relationship, so I guess I will try and hope for the best. What scares me is that she always makes it known that when clients are not being seen (which would happen if I ended a week early), the program is losing money.

How are they legally billing for your services if you are unlicensed and not an employee?

 

[psychrat]

How are they legally billing for your services if you are unlicensed and not an employee?

This is actually a really good question. Everything is co-signed, but that's about it. It is all assessment, but none of us externs are licensed at any level, so I do not know what they are billing under. We check the box that says assessment performed by technician.

 

[erg923]

This is actually a really good question. Everything is co-signed, but that's about it. It is all assessment, but none of us externs are licensed at any level, so I do not know what they are billing under. We check the box that says assessment performed by technician.

That is billing fraud, so far as I know. 96102 and/or 96119 cannot be billed for/by practicum students in training.

 

[WisNeuro]

That is billing fraud, so far as I know. 96102 and/or 96119 cannot be billed for/by practicum students in training.

I believe it depends on the state and whether or not medicare and/or medicaid is being billed.

 

[erg923]

From: http://downloads.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/lcd_attachments/31990_1/L31990PSYCH017CBG040112.pdf

"Under the physician fee schedule, there is no payment for services performed by students or trainees. Accordingly, Medicare does not pay for services represented by CPT codes 96102 and 96119 when performed by a student or a trainee."

I thought this was universal across most of the larger insurers as well though?

 

[WisNeuro]

Many adopt CMS regulations, but not all. Depends on the regional LCD.

 

[oathkeeper]

just a plan b- could you do a zip car on those days that you need to do the commute? or rent/ borrow a car?

 

[smalltownpsych]

Originally I was going to purchase a car, which would only be a 45-60 minute commute door to door to current externship, however, I ended up moving to a place right near a train station to my new site, so there is no need for a car. Technically I would only be ending one day early (missing the last Tuesday), so we'll see . I am the first to do a placement here in my program, but I will talk to my DCT.

One day? That's it? I was at an internship site that was very specific about staying until the end and I made that commitment and was able to honor it. I was curious about their emphasis on staying through to the end and asked about it. The response was that students had bailed a month or two early so they could have a vacation prior to internship and left the site and the patients in the cold. I don't think anybody would be able to quibble about a day or even a few as you are trying to coordinate the logistics of a major move. Depending on the person and ability to manipulate or not, I would probably just tell them what I was going to do and apologize for any inconvenience after I had let the DCT know what I was doing. Or you could just call in sick that Tuesday as you are driving to your new home. Difficult call to make but once it is over, roll down the windows, crank up the tunes, and have a nice trip!
This clip might set the tone.

 

[cara susanna]

Would you even be seeing patients that last day?

 

[psychrat]

Would you even be seeing patients that last day?

There is one scheduled, but I am going to see if I could just move their appt up to the Thursday before.