Neuropsychology

During this rotation, interns will be expected to work with a wide range of patients with various types of neurobehavioral pathology (e.g., dementia syndromes, traumatic brain injuries of varying severity, neurocognitive disorder due to cerebral vascular disease, learning disabilities, and multiple co-morbid psychiatric conditions). Referrals for neurobehavioral assessment include inpatients and outpatients who are referred by a variety of healthcare providers, such as Neurologists, Psychiatrists, Physiatrists, Primary Care Providers, Nurse Case-Managers for the Polytrauma Clinic, Vet Centers, and virtually all inpatient medical units.  Interns will be expected to develop skill in administration of a wide variety of tests and assessment techniques and will work with several different Neuropsychologists on our staff.  Not all interns will start at the same level of patient-engagement, as some interns may come with considerable pre-internship experience/coursework in Clinical Neuropsychology, and efforts will be made to tailor each intern’s rotation to their expressed needs and current competencies.  Interns will attend a weekly Neuropsychology Case Conference and will be provided reading material as needed.  Access to other learning opportunities within the broader medical/academic community will be encouraged. Interns will have access to Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry Grand Rounds at the University of Iowa when topics of interest are presented.  The goal of this rotation will be to provide supervised training that would make interns competitive when applying for subsequent Neuropsychology fellowships, if so desired.  Emphasis will be placed on communicating assessment findings to a variety of consumers in a timely, concise, and effective manner.  There is also the opportunity for participating in feedback sessions and treatment interventions with selected brain-injured individuals and their families, as circumstances warrant.