Preparing psychologists for managed care settings: Enhancing internship training programs.

Abstract

Do internship programs prepare new professionals for success in today's behavioral health care marketplace? Managed care has quickly affected internship training programs and has dramatically altered the delivery of mental health services, but training programs have been slow to adapt to these changes. For example, instruction in business concepts and training hi clinical and professional issues unique to managed care are discernible deficiencies in contemporary internship training programs. This article

What we know about predoctoral internship training: A 10-year update.

“…Internship directors reported that their programs provided at least one session devoted to this topic and agreed that such education should be mandatory. It was found that preparation of interns for managed care (Spruill & Pruitt, 2000) and supervision skills (Scott, Ingram, Vitanza, & Smith, 2000) were provided more through counseling center internships than other types of sites. Finally, Russell (2004) surveyed internship directors to determine whether interns were being trained to address religion/ spirituality issues with patients.…”

Professional Development Experiences: Are Psychology Interns Getting Enough?

“…Some researchers have focused upon the inclusion of specific content deemed to be an important part of the knowledge base for professional psychologists. For example, researchers have suggested that brief psycho-pharmacology curriculum (Dunivin & Southwell, 2000), business concepts (Spruill & Pruitt, 2000), and research (LeJuez, Read, Gollan, & Zvolensky, 2001) be included in internship training since such knowledge would assist interns in future practice, aiding in differential diagnoses, selection of appropriate assessment and intervention methods, and working within the constraints of managed care. The remaining studies found in this literature search involved professional development on internship that was highly specific to a particular patient population, setting, or practice area such as working in counseling centers (Ross & Altmaier, 1990), family psychology (Kaslow, Celano, & Stanton, 2003), and providing services to individuals with severe mental illness (Hoge, Stayner, & Davidson, 2000).…”

Preparing Child Psychologists for Managed Care: Educational and Training Considerations

“…A frequent source of frustration for trainees is the disposition of clients who continue to need care beyond the policy benefits. As noted by Spruill and Pruitt (2000), a serious ethical issue within managed care settings is the potential for patient abandonment once insurance benefits are depleted. In some managed care plans, there may be a too narrowly applied definition of ''medical necessity,'' and psychologists in training must learn to advocate for their clients when appropriate.…”

“…The pace is rapid, and demands for service are consistently high. Spruill and Pruitt (2000) noted that in managed care, trainees have to develop the skills for using their time efficiently and become adept at juggling current caseloads while taking on new clients. Residents and interns must also be taught how to make decisions about the frequency and intensity of treatment, when to begin seeing a client for less frequent sessions, and when to end a course of treatment.…”

“…For example, Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in Northern California is a staff-model HMO that employs almost 400 psychologists, and over 100 psychology interns or postdoctoral residents are trained each year. In order to produce psychologists who are capable of meeting current market demands, previous authors have not only advocated in favor of including coursework on managed care in graduate school programs in professional psychology (Daniel, Alva, & Olivares, 2002) but have also emphasized the need for internship and postdoctoral training programs to prepare psychologists to work in managed care settings (Spruill & Pruitt, 2000).…”