What type of videocamera...

[MBK2003]

Do you folks use or find useful for videotaping psychotherapy sessions for the purposes of supervision?

I used to use a Sony Handycam with MiniDV tapes, but it would take another hour to burn the video to DVD and now at my current institution, our lovely IS department removed all the DVD burners from our computers so I have to bring the tape and camera to my home computer to burn the DVD to watch during supervision.

I'm looking at a Sony that records directly to the 8cm DVD, but it looks like they hold only 30 min of footage. Anyone use this format for hour long sessions (maybe lower quality image??)?

My whole purpose is to be able to record a session and then bring a DVD or miniDVD to my supervisors office so we can watch it on the computer. I don't want to be dragging around a camera that the computer may or may not recognize as an input, or to make my poor supervisors watch it on the tiny 2.5 inch LCD. I also don't want to spend an hour at home burning footage to DVD.

I've got educational fund money burning a hole in my pocket, so hit me with your suggestions!

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[Anasazi23]

Take handwritten notes. That way, when you realize you've said something stupid, or forgotten what you said at some point, you can just make it up and move happily along.

 

[Anasazi23]

Of course I'm kidding. Others in my program used to do that. Thankfully, it wasn't required. I wouldn't fare well in a situation where I was taped and critiqued.

I do have a relatively cheap DVD camcorder. Don't most of the new ones plug directly into the television so that you don't need to burn them to a separate DVD? I know mine does that.

 

[1viking]

How about webcam that records on a PC in mpeg format?

 

[MBK2003]

Don't most of the new ones plug directly into the television so that you don't need to burn them to a separate DVD? I know mine does that.

Yeah, however, my supervisors offices aren't decked out with televisions. I'm also a klutz, so the prospect of me taking the videocamera to 2-3 supervisions a week all over town seems fraught with disaster.

How about webcam that records on a PC in mpeg format?

I've tried it, but the video files get pretty large and the webcam and microphone quality is not great for the purposes of supervising a heated family therapy session.

Am I the only one who videotapes sessions for supervision? Our program is moving towards having us submit videotaped sessions to demonstrate competency in the various core psychotherapies.

 

[Anasazi23]

Yeah, however, my supervisors offices aren't decked out with televisions. I'm also a klutz, so the prospect of me taking the videocamera to 2-3 supervisions a week all over town seems fraught with disaster.

What about a laptop?

Am I the only one who videotapes sessions for supervision? Our program is moving towards having us submit videotaped sessions to demonstrate competency in the various core psychotherapies.

Yes, the current PGY-I class ( I believe ) is the first to have to demonstrate core competencies and interview skill in lieu of the oral boards.

 

[MBK2003]

What about a laptop?

Would be great except that I don't have one and our building is not WiFi compatible.

The good news is that I've got institutional $$ for a camcorder, wide-angle lens, and recordable media to be shared among the 6 fellows. This money can't be used for a laptop due to constraints of what falls under "information technology" budget and "supervision equipment" budget. I just need to figure out what to order and it has to be relatively independent of the computer due to our IS system restraints. Any ideas???

 

[nitemagi]

We've set up a full video system on our inpatient unit. We video tape patients on a hard-drive camera, then transmit the files to an external hard drive. That way you never pay for tapes.

Getting quality sound is always a matter of microphone proximity. Challenging when you're dealing with multiple sound sources, but doable with a conference room mic.