Evaluations we can conduct

[AryaStark]

Hi All,
So I am a 4th year graduate student and I plan to specialize in health psychology related consultation/treatment/assessment. Today, I was discussing the various evaluations that clinical psychologists can conduct under this heading. Our training hasn't provide too much information regarding the various health related evaluations that we could be qualified to perform either on internship or in practice (supervision an appropriate training of course). I was wondering: other than transplant and bariatric evaluations, what other health-related evaluations are possible for those of us wanting to specialize in this field (keep in mind that I know about general mental health evaluations of course as well as intellectual, achievement etc evals. I am talking something a little bit different than what I have done over and over throughout graduate school). Thanks for any information you can provide!

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[erg923]

Spinal cord stim, pain pump, TMS for dep.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

It's more on the neuropsych side, but pre-surgical epilepsy and DBS evals also come to mind. And then there are just the general questions of various forms of capacity (e.g., financial or medical decision making).

 

[Pragma]

FWIW, health psychologists at medical centers I have trained at usually have had a niche plus some general work. They often had one or two types of evals that they typically did most of (e.g., tranplant, etc) but then they usually filled out their billing quotas with intervention work. Sometimes the intervention work was health psych oriented (e.g., sleep hygeine, biofeedback) but sometimes they just saw run of the mill outpatients too.

Psychonc is another area health psychologists work in or pain clinics as erg alluded to. There are plenty of evals to do in these areas.

 

[Sanman]

I have also done clearance for an implantable penis pump and I know they are done prior to gender reassignment surgery.

 

[futureapppsy2]

I know of one spine surgery practice that does pre-surgery psych evals on all patients after having a bad experience with a former patient, so pre-surgery evals are possible if you find a practice that values them.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Spinal cord stim, pain pump, TMS for dep.

Ding, Ding, Ding.

Every surgeon should have a psychologist on staff/available to do both Pre and Post evals anytime a major surgery is considered. One of the neurosurgeons I work with once told me, "Once my blade touches a patient...I am connected to them for life. I have enough bad apples in my apple cart, and I try not to add any more." He won't do any major procedure without a psych eval (not neuropsych), and often the post-eval (usually a brief psych + cog screener) is just as important. I'm hoping to land the trifecta of doing the pre, post, and then 6-12mon follow-up neuropsych eval. for a certain sub-group of patients. Most surgeons let you do what you do, as long as you are good and you get them the information quickly and concisely. They are by far my fav. physician referrals.

 

[Pragma]

Ding, Ding, Ding.

Every surgeon should have a psychologist on staff/available to do both Pre and Post evals anytime a major surgery is considered. One of the neurosurgeons I work with once told me, "Once my blade touches a patient...I am connected to them for life. I have enough bad apples in my apple cart, and I try not to add any more." He won't do any major procedure without a psych eval (not neuropsych), and often the post-eval (usually a brief psych + cog screener) is just as important. I'm hoping to land the trifecta of doing the pre, post, and then 6-12mon follow-up neuropsych eval. for a certain sub-group of patients. Most surgeons let you do what you do, as long as you are good and you get them the information quickly and concisely. They are by far my fav. physician referrals.

I did exactly that on postdoc and loved it. The preop evals were also a good time to provide some brief intervention as well (if needed).

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I did exactly that on postdoc and loved it. The preop evals were also a good time to provide some brief intervention as well (if needed).

The reason I'd like to get more involved in this part (besides the evals are brief and rarely cancel) is that you have an opportunity to catch problems early. I actually need to contact my guy again....thanks for the reminder!

 

[Member6523]

For kids, hemophilia, oncology, and sickle cell come to mind. The latter two are common neuropsych referrals too.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

For kids, hemophilia, oncology, and sickle cell come to mind. The latter two are common neuropsych referrals too.

Hmm...never thought of that population...though I have limited contact w. niche peds populations. It makes sense that performance would lag in children who missed more school (particularly early on) due to # of bleeding incidents. A quick check on Dr. Google turned up this: http://www.pediatricsdigest.mobi/content/108/6/e105.full

 

[Member6523]

Hmm...never thought of that population...though I have limited contact w. niche peds populations. It makes sense that performance would lag in children who missed more school (particularly early on) due to # of bleeding incidents. A quick check on Dr. Google turned up this: http://www.pediatricsdigest.mobi/content/108/6/e105.full

That's a common aspect psychologists deal with. Another is emotional/behavioral concerns that might interfere with medication adherence, or increase risk-taking activities.

 

[NeuroTrope]

Health psychologists work with any medical patients that may have comorbid psychological problems. This spans oncology, cardiology, rehabilitation units, etc. There really is no limit of the populations they can work with as long as the setting is willing to support them. Of course, when the disease is known to impact the CNS, it's easier to "sell" the psychologist's role...also neuropsychology often steps in at that point to assist in assessment and treatment planning...