COVID-19 Impact on Internship Sites

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docstudent1248

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I am an intern at a UCC, and our university is switching to remote classes for the rest of the semester. We are not sure how this will impact our direct intervention hours if the center switches to telehealth. Has anyone received any information/responses regarding exceptions to providing telehealth as an unlicensed intern?
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docstudent1248 said:
I am a doctoral intern at a UCC, and our university is switching to remote classes for the rest of the semester. We are not sure how this will impact our direct intervention hours if the center switches to telehealth. Has anyone received any information/responses regarding exceptions to providing telehealth as an unlicensed doctoral intern?
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My site offers telehealth, and at the beginning of internship year I obtained my LPC in the state so I could provide that. I haven’t yet, but it was a way to increase opportunities for client contact. I doubt my site will close. I do wonder if didactics will be cancelled or changed to an online meeting system format.

It is going to vary significantly what (if any) impact individual sites will have. I would speak with your direct supervisor about your concerns.
 
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docstudent1248 said:
I am a doctoral intern at a UCC, and our university is switching to remote classes for the rest of the semester. We are not sure how this will impact our direct intervention hours if the center switches to telehealth. Has anyone received any information/responses regarding exceptions to providing telehealth as an unlicensed doctoral intern?
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I heard through my school (I’m on internship now) that APPIC and APA are aware of the situation and working on guidelines for internship training guidelines during COVID-19, including possibly relaxing the amount of hours needed to complete internship (but I’m sure this will vary by state). I also talked to our TD who said our internship wouldn’t be delayed further if we go remote.

The APA Commission on Accreditation also sent out an email saying they support interim practices of telesupervision and telehealth when something like COVID-19 happens. I think they’re putting together guidelines for this as well.


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Goodness, wasn't even thinking about the implications for internship/F2F hours. I believe some states also have hard rules on the number of patient contact hours internship must entail, so this potentially has long-term implications for folks who just so happen to be on internship right now.

The bad news is it will be logistically challenging. The good news (from a F2F hours standpoint) is that I don't see any shortage of people needing therapy in the coming weeks and months...
 
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Definitely keep in contact with your supervisors and training director. If possible, they may be able to frontload or backload contact hours to avoid needing to extend the internship completion date. VA has also made some changes regarding allowable supervision for telehealth appointments, but VA of course has practice allowances that don't always apply to other sites.
 
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Not to threadjack, but does anyone have any idea about if the psychology licensure boards may consider postponing continuing education requirement since so many trainings/conferences are being cancelled?
 
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cara susanna said:
Not to threadjack, but does anyone have any idea about if the psychology licensure boards may consider postponing continuing education requirement since so many trainings/conferences are being cancelled?
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I doubt it. State licensing boards are slow as mud to make any changes, and there are plenty of ways to get CEU requirements that don’t involve being there in person.
 
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cara susanna said:
Not to threadjack, but does anyone have any idea about if the psychology licensure boards may consider postponing continuing education requirement since so many trainings/conferences are being cancelled?
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I've not heard anything from the two states I'm licensed in, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. The cynical part of me thinks they'd probably say to just use virtual/distance learning. For VA folks, I'd definitely recommend loading up now via TMS, just in case.
 
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Based on some napkin math (which I have shown to be incompetent at), the R values, and current data, it’ll be done by August (I.e., doubling every ~7 days, hitting 1MM by about May, US population is ~330MM).

Then we’ll lose like 8% of the older psychologists, so the room for leadership advancement will go up.
 
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PsyDr said:
Based on some napkin math (which I have shown to be incompetent at), the R values, and current data, it’ll be done by August (I.e., doubling every ~7 days, hitting 1MM by about May, US population is ~330MM).

Then we’ll lose like 8% of the older psychologists, so the room for leadership advancement will go up.
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*gulp*

What do you mean by “it’ll be done”?
 
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I'm also on internship at a UCC right now. Our university hasn't shut down yet, but our center is switching to tele-health starting tomorrow and we're already starting to implement a bunch of social distancing measures. As far as hours go, we're all on track here to meet the minimum number of face to face hours required for our training program (~400ish) so I think it will probably be fine for licensing. I've heard from people in my program at name brand internships who are doing far less in terms of direct service hours. Our TD is saying that they will be flexible in terms of meeting the internship requirements.

@Ollie123 Did you have an upper limit in your mind in terms of internship hours needed for licensure?
 
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No idea what the upper limit might be - just recall seeing some specific numbers when looking at various licensure laws.
 
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R. Matey said:
I'm also on internship at a UCC right now. Our university hasn't shut down yet, but our center is switching to tele-health starting tomorrow and we're already starting to implement a bunch of social distancing measures. As far as hours go, we're all on track here to meet the minimum number of face to face hours required for our training program (~400ish) so I think it will probably be fine for licensing. I've heard from people in my program at name brand internships who are doing far less in terms of direct service hours. Our TD is saying that they will be flexible in terms of meeting the internship requirements.

@Ollie123 Did you have an upper limit in your mind in terms of internship hours needed for licensure?
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My direct client contact is 500 hours for the year, I’m also wondering if that may be adjusted down. I doubt my site will close but things may slow down. I’m in a good position to burn a couple of weeks doing other things if it comes to that.
 
R. Matey said:
I'm also on internship at a UCC right now. Our university hasn't shut down yet, but our center is switching to tele-health starting tomorrow and we're already starting to implement a bunch of social distancing measures. As far as hours go, we're all on track here to meet the minimum number of face to face hours required for our training program (~400ish) so I think it will probably be fine for licensing. I've heard from people in my program at name brand internships who are doing far less in terms of direct service hours. Our TD is saying that they will be flexible in terms of meeting the internship requirements.

@Ollie123 Did you have an upper limit in your mind in terms of internship hours needed for licensure?
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Upper limit is 2000 hours (only a couple of states still require that many). APPIC requires 25% of your time be direct service (so 500 hours for a 2000 hour internship). Most states don’t have a direct service requirement (but a handful do so check your licensing laws where you want to practice after internship).
 
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I should clarify. I’m at 400/500 DSHs as of right now. 500 is the minimum number of DSHs for me as well. I was curious if a prorated internship experience for the sake of finishing school would have consequences at the state level in terms of DSHs needed for licensure. The two states I plan to be licensed in don’t have these requirements, but I didn’t know if this was the same everywhere.


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Not to hijack, but is it safe to think that APA is also thinking about guidelines for those of us in programs and accruing hours to be eligible for internship that are now either forced into a telehealth setup or having practicum sites closed entirely due to the virus?
 
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Spydra said:
Not to hijack, but is it safe to think that APA is also thinking about guidelines for those of us in programs and accruing hours to be eligible for internship that are now either forced into a telehealth setup or having practicum sites closed entirely due to the virus?
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Yes, they are currently discussing this, and so much more.
 
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I'm also wondering what impacts there may be for those of us expecting to begin internship this year. Should we anticipate delays?
 
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neuronoxious said:
I'm also wondering what impacts there may be for those of us expecting to begin internship this year. Should we anticipate delays?
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As of right now I don’t anticipate delays for the start of our next internship. This situation changes day by day but on this day I say it should be fine.
 
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Spydra said:
Not to hijack, but is it safe to think that APA is also thinking about guidelines for those of us in programs and accruing hours to be eligible for internship that are now either forced into a telehealth setup or having practicum sites closed entirely due to the virus?
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Our site communicated that APA had published a statement about hours and telehealth on March 11. I didn’t see the actual statement.
 
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R. Matey said:
Update: Our UCC is closed to clients. Anyone else in this boat?
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My UCC is closed and all students who are healthy and able are expected to come in this week to learn how to proceed in some sort of telehealth setup and contact clients to get that going. I'm hoping for the best with that, but ultimately I'm grateful that I have all the hours I need to be competitive for most of the internship sites I want to apply to. My practicum site is still open until further notice and no cancels yet.
 
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I am getting really frustrated that APA has not put out any statement for current internship students. I know many, including myself, are wondering how much they need to worry about hours and how much we need to continue to work in a hospital setting. Anyone know what the hold up is?
 
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exitsreinvented said:
I am getting really frustrated that APA has not put out any statement for current internship students. I know many, including myself, are wondering how much they need to worry about hours and how much we need to continue to work in a hospital setting. Anyone know what the hold up is?
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They have been having meetings about this, and many other things over the past several weeks. They are in triage mode. The most important thing was to push for loosening of billing restrictions for telephone and telehealth services. I assure you that they are working on policy outlines for internship hours and such. The hold up is that they are juggling about 20 balls in the air. Additionally, most people in APA leadership also have other clinical jobs, which are also going bat**** right now trying to adjust to the pandemic.
 
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WisNeuro said:
They have been having meetings about this, and many other things over the past several weeks. They are in triage mode. The most important thing was to push for loosening of billing restrictions for telephone and telehealth services. I assure you that they are working on policy outlines for internship hours and such. The hold up is that they are juggling about 20 balls in the air. Additionally, most people in APA leadership also have other clinical jobs, which are also going bat**** right now trying to adjust to the pandemic.
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Not to mention it isn’t APA who sets the hour requirements (they set time in supervison, type of trainings, the length of the internship, etc) but not a total hour requirement. That varies by state. If you are on internship and are worried talk to your TD about these concerns.
 
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psyche27 said:
Not to mention it isn’t APA who sets the hour requirements (they set time in supervison, type of trainings, the length of the internship, etc) but not a total hour requirement. That varies by state. If you are on internship and are worried talk to your TD about these concerns.
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Check. Is something being circulated among training directors that we should know?

I think this is a time for more communication and not the silence that interns have been receiving from APA, APPIC, etc... I think the concern that many of us are having is whether we'll be able to meet state requirements for licensure when the dust settles. In my state, the licensing board made a statement that they have made no changes to their policies, so that's a bit concerning for people who might not be able to performing clinical services right now. Even taking what @WiseNeuro just said and putting it in email form to assuage interns' concerns would be worlds better than crickets we've been getting.
 
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R. Matey said:
Check. Is something being circulated among training directors that we should know?

I think this is a time for more communication and not the silence that interns have been receiving from APA, APPIC, etc... I think the concern that many of us are having is whether we'll be able to meet state requirements for licensure when the dust settles. In my state, the licensing board made a statement that they have made no changes to their policies, so that's a bit concerning for people who might not be able to performing clinical services right now. Even taking what @WiseNeuro just said and putting it in email form to assuage interns' concerns would be worlds better than crickets we've been getting.
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Best advice, keep calm and look to health and safety first. At this point in time, I imagine that they do not want to have several "possible policy" emails, with possible contradictory messages in them. When there is a solid, coherent policy in place, people will hear about it. Right now, their efforts are pretty much inundated with telehealth stuff, which is a much more pressing matter than internship hours. There are some many moving parts in the hours/licensure thing, that an e-mail right now would not be reassuring in any way, and likely just another thing that people would complain about.
 
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WisNeuro said:
Best advice, keep calm and look to health and safety first. At this point in time, I imagine that they do not want to have several "possible policy" emails, with possible contradictory messages in them. When there is a solid, coherent policy in place, people will hear about it. Right now, their efforts are pretty much inundated with telehealth stuff, which is a much more pressing matter than internship hours. There are some many moving parts in the hours/licensure thing, that an e-mail right now would not be reassuring in any way, and likely just another thing that people would complain about.
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That checks out. I suppose I should try to take a broader view of things. Personally, I'm fine. UCCs don't bill and we'll start tele-psychology from home by next week and the TDs from both my home program and internship site say that we can count tele-psychology hours. I'm more concerned about some of my friends and colleagues in hospitals that are being sent home.
 
R. Matey said:
That checks out. I suppose I should try to take a broader view of things. Personally, I'm fine. UCCs don't bill and we'll start tele-psychology from home by next week and the TDs from both my home program and internship site say that we can count tele-psychology hours. I'm more concerned about some of my friends and colleagues in hospitals that are being sent home.
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I guarantee that these discussions are happening. But, no one knows how big this thing will be, or how long it will drag out. In the end, things are much bigger than their concerns right now. But, also remember that we (training sites/current interns) are all working with difficulties in planning and want the best resolution for all parties. This isn't falling by the wayside, just much bigger priorities at the moment.
 
Things are a mess on the provider side, too, for what it's worth. We're all kind of flying by the seat of our pants right now.
 
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WisNeuro said:
I guarantee that these discussions are happening. But, no one knows how big this thing will be, or how long it will drag out. In the end, things are much bigger than their concerns right now. But, also remember that we (training sites/current interns) are all working with difficulties in planning and want the best resolution for all parties. This isn't falling by the wayside, just much bigger priorities at the moment.
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Thanks for the response. I get that there are bigger fish to fry than trainee hours and it's important to keep everything in perspective, I just want to make sure that intern voices are heard. That's all.

APA's email from a few hours ago was mildly comforting even if it didn't directly address concerns. It was nice to know what they have been doing in response to COVID-19.
 
R. Matey said:
We're supposed to open sometime next week, but yeah, same here. I wonder if lower acuity people are reassessing their needs...
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Supposed to <open> sometime next week? Already planning a date to re-open seems wildly premature and downright irresponsible at this point. We have no idea where we will be a week from now. My state is doing great and we are prepping for a minimum 2-4 weeks and potentially longer.

Unless you mean they had shut the doors for spring break or something like that anyways and this was just the already-on-the-schedule reopening date that they are currently re-evaluating?
 
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Ollie123 said:
Supposed to <open> sometime next week? Already planning a date to re-open seems wildly premature and downright irresponsible at this point. We have no idea where we will be a week from now. My state is doing great and we are prepping for a minimum 2-4 weeks and potentially longer.

Unless you mean they had shut the doors for spring break or something like that anyways and this was just the already-on-the-schedule reopening date that they are currently re-evaluating?
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I'll clarify.

The center is closed for students and then we'll be providing distance therapy next week.
 
That sounds tremendously more reasonable! Thanks for clarifying.
 
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R. Matey said:
Thanks for the response. I get that there are bigger fish to fry than trainee hours and it's important to keep everything in perspective, I just want to make sure that intern voices are heard. That's all.

APA's email from a few hours ago was mildly comforting even if it didn't directly address concerns. It was nice to know what they have been doing in response to COVID-19.
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Do you know if their email included a link? I did not receive it and would like to see what they said.
 
R. Matey said:
They directed people to this website.
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I have been told by TD’s (one is a friend, one is a supervisor) that APA is communicating with internship sites but have not yet made any policy changes that would impact internship year.

Word on the street is that they may relax some requirements but they don’t anticipate state boards will. The example I was given was allowing more than 12 months for completion. So now is a good time to be very aware of the licensure requirements at the state level. May also be good to see if your internship site requirements/expectations are above and beyond what APA requires and if there’s a way to scale back at the site level.
 
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GradStudent2020 said:
I have been told by TD’s (one is a friend, one is a supervisor) that APA is communicating with internship sites but have not yet made any policy changes that would impact internship year.

Word on the street is that they may relax some requirements but they don’t anticipate state boards will. The example I was given was allowing more than 12 months for completion. So now is a good time to be very aware of the licensure requirements at the state level. May also be good to see if your internship site requirements/expectations are above and beyond what APA requires and if there’s a way to scale back at the site level.
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Thanks, that's really helpful.
 
R. Matey said:
Thanks, that's really helpful.
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It’s a weird time, for sure. I feel really supported at my site. Interns are a small part of a large, multidisciplinary system, and my supervisors are going into meetings/convos asking about the impact on us. And talking to us about options. It’s .... a lot, but I’m confident this will work out.
 
GradStudent2020 said:
It’s a weird time, for sure. I feel really supported at my site. Interns are a small part of a large, multidisciplinary system, and my supervisors are going into meetings/convos asking about the impact on us. And talking to us about options. It’s .... a lot, but I’m confident this will work out.
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I hope so. Who would've thought we'd be dealing with a pandemic on internship?
 
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TSBEP (Texas) plans to discuss the impact on internship requirements during the May meeting.
 
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www.apaservices.org

Advice for psychology supervisors and trainees on caring for patients during the COVID-19 crisis

As public health and education officials continue to monitor the spread of the coronavirus, here is advice for supervisors and trainees at psychology training programs on how to prepare for and adapt to fluctuating circumstances specific to patient care.
www.apaservices.org www.apaservices.org

I want to believe that they read this board and responded. I’m pre-contemplative in restructuring that belief.


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