Curriculum

Clinical Activities & Supervision

The clinical environment at Hurley Medical Center provides for advanced learning experiences for those specializing in adult rehabilitation psychology. As a Level 1 Trauma Center and a Children's Hospital, Hurley provides a wide case mix for learning. First-year fellows typically have 15-25 hours of patient contact per week, providing targeted assessments, interventions, and real-world practice. In many circumstances, fellows - with input from their supervisors - can select cases that will best enhance their knowledge base, providing a wide-ranging learning experience. Fellows learn evidence-based practice and how to develop and monitor appropriate treatment plans.

Main clinical activities include:

  • Inpatient consultations
  • Psychological Testing
  • Outpatient Neuropsychological and Cognitive Testing
  • Individual Supervision
  • Patient-Care Rounds
Dr. Singh, center left, Med Peds program director, talks with the health-care team on the adult floor at Hurley Medical Center
Adult Rehabilitation Psychology Curriculum Summary

Blend of experience, wide spectrum of patients

For fellows in adult rehabilitation psychology, main clinical activities include:

  • Inpatient consultations
    • Typically requires the fellow to: respond within 24 hours of request, evaluate patient at bedside, write notes as required by Hurley standards, formally communicate with the referring physician.
  • Psychological Testing
    • Conduct psychological, neuropsychological, and cognitive assessments. May include determining necessity/appropriateness of testing for a given patient, with guidance from supervisors.
  • Outpatient Neuropsychological and Cognitive Testing
    • A fellow usually completes 20-30 outpatient evaluations during the first year and 30-45 evaluations during the second year. Completion of at least 50 outpatient evaluations is normally required to graduate in good standing from the Rehabilitation Psychology Fellowship. First-year fellows typically see one outpatient neuropsychology testing case every other week. Fellows are expected to complete their report within 1 week of the assessment and have 5 days to revise (per supervisor’s feedback), if needed.
    • Many clinical activities include one-on-one teaching/supervision from the supervisor. For example:
  • Individual Supervision
    • Fellows have a least two hours of individual, face-to-face supervision each week, plus two or more supervisors during any one training year. Supervision occurs in multiple settings, such as during rounds, on the floor during patient-care activities, via phone, email, text-messaging, outpatient office, and other contexts.
  • Patient-Care Rounds
    • The fellow participates weekly in patient-care rounds with hospital-based psychologists, exposing the fellow to patient-care coordination and discussions about clinical issues with deep educational value. Supervisors often conduct group discussions on educational topics that arise during clinical care.

Didactic Training

The fellowship provides a robust rehabilitation psychology curriculum, along with many elective seminars and activities to deepen knowledge and skills, while preparing fellows for a long and successful career in rehabilitation psychology.

Sample Curriculum content

2021-2022 Curriculum for Rehab Psychology
Post-doctoral fellows in Rehabilitation Psychology have a robust year-round curriculum.
  • Weekly rehabilitation health psychology seminars*
  • Professional development, leadership, and management seminars*
  • Adult medical seminars (e.g., noon conferences, grand rounds; morbidity, mortality and improvement; tumor board)*
  • Graduate Medical Education Combined Lectures (e.g., professionalism, wellness, cultural sensitivity, corporate compliance, confidentiality, risk management, health disparities, population health, quality and patient safety)*
  • Trauma conference
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Hospital-wide committee participation (e.g., ethics, diversity and inclusion council)
  • Book chapter review and journal club

*Required educational experiences

Sharing your knowledge

Scholarly Activities

The program provides a scholarly approach to rehabilitation psychology practice and provides a robust educational curriculum.

1 scholarly project required during the entire fellowship period

Support:
  • On-site 24/7 medical library
  • Dedicated research department
  • Faculty support mentorship
Types of scholarly activities available:
  • Collaborative research studies
  • Quality improvement projects
  • Program evaluation
  • Participation and eventual authorship of peer-reviewed works including posters, oral presentations, and journal articles

Teaching activitites

Medical education is a minor emphasis of the fellowship.

  • Teaching, instruction, and shadowing for medical residents and medical students
  • Formal didactic instruction to peers, medical residents and medical students on topics related to rehabilitation psychology, psychological testing, and neuropsychological and cognitive testing
  • Community outreach
  • Supervision of practicum students
  • Curriculum development
  • Eligible for faculty appointment from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine