Interns in the University of Florida (UF) Internship Program in Clinical Psychology in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology benefit from training opportunities across an inter-related health care network that are part of UF Health. UF Health is the Southeast’s most comprehensive academic health center, with main campuses in Gainesville and Jacksonville. In addition to 10 research institutes and centers, UF Health includes 6 colleges and an expansive hospital network known as UF Health Shands. The College of Public Health and Health Professions, in which the department of clinical and health psychology resides, is one of the six colleges (which also include Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine) of the UF Health Academic Health Center (also referred to as the Health Science Center).
UF Health Shands is a private, not-for-profit hospital system affiliated with the University of Florida, based in Gainesville. UF Health Shands features a teaching hospital, UF Health Shands Hospital, which also includes UF Health Shands Cancer Hospital and UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital; four other specialty hospitals — UF Health Shands Rehab Hospital, UF Health Shands Psychiatric Hospital, UF Health Heart & Vascular Hospital and UF Health Neuromedicine Hospital; a network of outpatient rehabilitation centers; and a home health agency. UF Health Shands Hospital is also home to a state-designated Level I trauma center, a Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, a regional burn center and an emergency air and ground transport program. Each year, patients come to UF Health Shands from all 67 Florida counties, throughout the nation, and 25 countries.
UF Health Shands is affiliated with 60 UF Health Physicians primary care and specialty medical practices located throughout North Central Florida. UF Health Shands has affiliation relationships with four community hospitals located in Lake City, Live Oak, Ocala and Starke. It has built relationships with affiliates throughout the state in services such as cancer, heart surgery, neurosurgery, pediatrics, pediatric cardiology, pediatric nephrology, vascular surgery and addiction medicine. UF Health Shands also is affiliated with urgent care centers in Gainesville and Ocala and collaborates with other hospitals and health care providers to expand clinical programs and research and education efforts. More than 1,200 UF College of Medicine faculty and community physicians on the UF Health Shands medical staff provide care in more than 100 specialty and subspecialty medical areas, from primary care to highly specialized and complex care, including cancer, heart and vascular, neuromedicine, pediatrics and transplantation services.
The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology operates the UF Health Psychology Specialties Clinic, which provides comprehensive psychological services to outpatients in the greater Gainesville community and to patients of UF Health Shands Hospital. The UF Health Psychology Specialties Clinic serves as the primary training site for the UF Clinical and Health Psychology Internship Program. Between 07/01/2022 and 06/30/2023 there were a total of 15,666 billed outpatient visits. Of the outpatient visits, 3,168 were new intakes and 12,498 were return visits. In person visits accounted for 6060 of the total and telemedicine visits accounted for 9606 of the total. The demographic descriptions of these patients can be found in Appendix I.A.1.1.1 (UF Health Psychology Specialties Clinic Demographic Information).
Interns are able to participate in a wide variety of clinical activities through the UF Health Psychology Specialties clinic, UF Health Shands Hospital, UF Shands Rehabilitation Hospital and several outpatient facilities including Magnolia Parke Clinic and the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases and Shands Hospital.
Opportunities for interns focusing on Clinical Child Psychology and Pediatric Psychology include Child and Adolescent Services including young child neurodevelopment assessment, parent child interaction therapy (PCIT) adolescent mental health behavioral pediatrics, pediatric infectious disease, pediatric pulmonology (Cystic Fibrosis clinic), pediatric endocrinology (Type 1 diabetes clinic), pediatric craniofacial anomalies, pediatric gastroenterology (Inflammatory Bowel Disease clinic), pediatric hematology/oncology, pediatric sleep medicine and outpatient child and family therapy.
Adult and adolescent clinical opportunities for Medical/Health Psychology focused interns include assessment and treatment of solid organ transplant (lung, heart/LVD, kidney, liver), chronic pain, gastroenterological disorders (IBS, IBD), pre-surgical assessment for spinal cord stimulator and bariatric surgery, behavioral sleep medicine, psycho-oncology, and women’s health and infertility.
Interns focusing on Clinical Neuropsychology can participate in pediatric neuropsychology services include assessment of common developmental and acquired neurological conditions in childhood as well as the craniofacial anomalies interdisciplinary clinic. Adult neuropsychology services include inpatient rehabilitation, cross-cultural neuropsychology services, memory disorders, interdisciplinary movement disorders, brief neuropsychology screening exams in conjunction with a neurology dementia specialist, adult acquired neurological injuries, acute adult neurotrauma, adult brain tumor/awake cortical mapping, adult epilepsy/WADA, perioperative cognitive anesthesia network, holistic intervention for brain health and recovery, multidisciplinary BRAIN injury clinic, stroke and other acquired conditions and general adult neuropsychology services.