Clinical, Clinical-Research, or Research

Supervisors
Drs. Labott, Stout, & Shelby

Health Psych Clinical experiences: Interns will work with medical patients in either inpatient (medical floors) or outpatient settings. The clinical rotation can include any combination of the following:

1. Oncology (inpatient and outpatient): Individual therapy with patients receiving chemotherapy, stem cell transplants, surgery; issues around new diagnosis, anxiety, depression, end-of-life concerns; participate in support groups and multidisciplinary team meetings.

2. General hospital consultation (inpatient only): Assessment and individual psychotherapy with medical patients referred from a variety of inpatient floors including cardiology, renal/liver transplant, geriatric medicine, neurosurgery, and infectious diseases.

3. Pre-surgery psychological evaluations: Pre-bariatric surgery and cochlear implant evaluations are conducted.
• Potential surgical candidates for gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and lap-band procedures are referred for evaluation. These individuals are evaluated with both clinical interview and psychological questionnaires. Recommendations are made to the surgical team following the evaluation. Many individuals require follow-up either pre- or post-surgery. Individuals are seen most commonly for the treatment of depression, behavioral management of weight, or psychological factors that impact food intake. We also participate as guest speakers in post-surgery groups for bariatric patients.
• Additionally, comprehensive psychological evaluations for individuals planning to have cochlear implantation are also conducted, which often includes brief neuropsychological screening. Recommendations including additional neuropsychological testing or individual psychotherapy are also made.

4. Rehabilitation medicine (inpatient only): Assessment and individual treatment as a member of a team of professionals (e.g., physiatrists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists); patients with a variety of medical problems are seen on this unit including CVA, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, prolonged hospitalizations, surgery, and a variety of other medical problems.

5. Sleep disorders (outpatient): Evaluate and treat individuals referred from UIC Sleep Center; most common referrals are for insomnia and issues of desensitization for CPAP mask in individuals with sleep apnea.

6. Outpatient therapy: Assessment and individual psychotherapy with patients referred from various medical specialties including neurology, cardiology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, etc.

Special requirements: Clinical rotations can be done for either 6 or 12 mts, but 12 is preferred if interns want a variety of inpatient and outpatient experiences. Health psych seminar is required. Depending upon the content area, additional seminars/meetings may also be required, e.g., weekly inpatient multidisciplinary staffing on stem cell unit for interns working in oncology.

Health Psych Clinical-Research experiences: Interns work with medical patients in the context of research. Can be done for either 6 or 12 mts, and can involve any of the following areas:

1. Emotional expression and social support in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. This study is designed to look at the interrelationships among emotional expressions and social support in chronic pulmonary patients in comparison to healthy controls and patients with non-pulmonary medical problems. This study is one in a series of studies looking at psychological issues in individuals with chronic lung disease. Interns participating in this rotation will recruit and interview participants and be involved with data management. Opportunities to participate in statistical analyses, development of papers/presentations, and new research in this area are available at times.

2. Predictors of bariatric surgery. See above for clinical responsibilities related to bariatric surgery. We have a database of several psychological questionnaires and related factors that have been collected during pre-bariatric surgery evaluations with patients, which can be analyzed for development of papers/presentations.

3. Non-epileptic Seizure Intervention Clinic. This can be a clinical, research, or clinical-research rotation. Interns can provide individual psychotherapy with patients who have been diagnosed with non-epileptic seizures. Additionally, interns can attend weekly case conference meeting with a neuropsychiatrist, health psychologist, social worker, psychiatry resident, and medical student. Patients are evaluated and cases are discussed during this meeting prior to giving feedback to patients. Interns interested in research or clinical-research involvement can analyze data that is collected when patients present for evaluation in this clinic. Please see the website for this clinic for additional info: http://ccm.psych.uic.edu/NeedDoctor/NESIC_Clinic/NESIC_Clinic.aspx

Health Psych Research Experiences: Interns can participate in any of the following projects, for either 6 or 12 mts.

Psychological effects of stem cell donation. This is an ongoing study of the reactions of individuals who donate stem cells for use in the transplant of a relative as part of treatment for a hematologic malignancy. Donors complete questionnaires several times on a variety of issues; we are especially interested in how the donor-recipient relationship and the recipient’s outcome impact the donor’s psychological health. Interns involved in this project can work on data management and analyses, as well as papers and presentations (depending upon the phase of the project). We are also asked (rarely) to do clinical evals on donors who present special concerns; interns can also participate in this aspect