Clinical Experiences for First Year Students - Shadowing

While there are a number of you who I will be meeting with during the next couple of weeks, I have now had the opportunity to meet with several of you for what I consider very constructive discussions regarding your views about various aspects of the program and your experiences during the first year. In these initial discussions, I have learned from several people of the need for students to have more information regarding the nature of those clinical activities students are involved in once practicum begins during the second year.

Based on this helpful input, I have now spoken with a number of faculty members in various areas (all of whom see cases in the clinic) who have indicated a willingness to have first year students “shadow” trainees working with them on practica. There may be other faculty, that I have not yet had the opportunity to speak with, who may also be open to this.

In speaking to these faculty members, I indicated that it would be desirable for those of you in the first year class to have the opportunity to be exposed to the type of clinical work that practicum students working with them engage in. I suggested that it would be good if they could link you to either a practicum student or intern who would be available to answer a variety of questions you might have about how things work in the clinic and about the case you would be involved with. I indicated that it would be desirable for you to be able sit in on the pre-case discussion, where the faculty member and trainee go over available information prior to the patients arrival, have the opportunity to observe the clinical interview, observe some of the testing, and also be able to sit in on the meeting between the faculty member and the trainee at the end of the day to conceptualize the case and come up with recommendations etc. The trainee you would be working with would also be able to provide you with additional information regarding the type of report that is usually expected, how this is routed after it is finished, how billing is done, etc., etc., etc.

While the extent to which you participate in this process is voluntary, spending a couple of days doing this kind of “shadowing” should begin to get you acquainted with some of the kinds of things you will be doing on practicum.

I have listed the faculty members who have, so far, agreed to participate below, along with their area of clinical involvement. If you are interested in this type of training opportunity, contact the faculty member you would like to work with and they will be able to provide you with the information you need (e.g., clinic day, time they start their clinic day, what evaluations typically involve, length of time, and so forth).

Hope you will find this useful.

Jim Johnson
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Steve Boggs - Clinical Child/Peds

Eileen Fennell – Child Neuropsychlogy

Marie-Claude Laplante – Anxiety Disorders Clinic

Deidre Pereira – Med Psych/Oncology

Shelley Heaton – Child Neuropsychology

Dave Janicke – Pediatric Psychology

Jim Johnson – Clinical Child Psychology

Christina McRae – Med Psych/Sleep Disorders

Sam Sears – Med Psych/Cardiology

Kimberly Shaw – Clinical Child/Pediatric Psychology (Child Transplant)

Jeff Stoll – Med Psych (Adult Transplant)

Lori Waxenberg – Med Psych/Pain