Neuropsychology internship decision

[wv7887]

Hi,

I am interviewing at an APA-approved private practice that offers a neuropsych internship track. There may also be a possibility to do some neuropsych assessments within a nearby hospital that they are affiliated with. If I end up taking this internship, I am wondering if I will still be competitive enough to apply for neuropsych post-doc positions within a hospital setting? I have rehabilitation hospital practicum experience. Thanks!

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[erg923]

Hi,

I am interviewing at an APA-approved private practice that offers a neuropsych internship track. There may also be a possibility to do some neuropsych assessments within a nearby hospital that they are affiliated with. If I end up taking this internship, I am wondering if I will still be competitive enough to apply for neuropsych post-doc positions within a hospital setting? I have rehabilitation hospital practicum experience. Thanks!

Depends upon the quality of the neuropsych training and your prior exposure to Neropsychology in graduate school.

 

[Pragma]

Yeah a medical setting is preferable, but if you have a boarded supervisor and can do hospital consults then it should be fine. The problems with PP are the potential lack of exposure to other medical professionals and some types of referrals. But if you have a competent supervisor and some hospital exposure, it can mitigate these concerns.

 

[Kadhir]

An additional consideration is the availability of didactics and general strength of the neuropsychology community, including exposure to different conceptual and writing styles. Internship should be more than just pumping out neuropsych reports. The expectation in post doc will be (or should be) to start developing your own style, and you can best do this with appropriately broad training during internship.

Also, neuropsychological assessment (assuming that's what you were doing in the practicum) in a rehabilitation setting is quite different than a standard comprehensive outpatient eval. Still very valuable experience, but different.

 

[WisNeuro]

I, personally, would not take an applicant coming from a private practice internship for fellowship. In general, lack of didactic experiences and minimal supervision is the norm there. I imagine that there are outliers, but I'd rather not take chances and get someone who we have to play a lot of catch up with on postdoc from a teaching perspective.

 

[wv7887]

Thank you all for your input!