The internship year at HCMC begins with two weeks of orientation, during which the interns are introduced to the faculty and the facility as well as to policies and procedures. Current trainees play an integral part in orienting incoming interns to the hospital setting, the department, and the training program. The orientation also includes a series of lectures on basic topics such as interviewing, report writing, mandatory reporting of abuse, working with interpreters, and clinic procedures. Unscheduled time between lectures provides the interns the opportunity to become acquainted with each other and with the staff, and to organize their office space. Interns are informed of their supervisory assignments and initial meetings are arranged with their supervisors during the orientation weeks.

Seminars

The orientation week is followed by several weekly, one-hour seminar series. During the fall quarter, interns participate in a Medical Consultation Seminar, which covers topics related to psychological consultation to the medical and trauma services. The Adult Assessment Seminar also takes place during the fall quarter. In addition, a Neuropsychology Seminar occurs during the winter quarter.  The Group Consultation Seminar starts in the fall and continues throughout the training year with focus on adult and child issues on alternating weeks.

An adult-focused CBT Seminar is taught jointly to the psychology interns and second-year psychiatry residents in the fall. Several other intervention-focused seminars are offered including a child-focused CBT Seminar, a Motivational Interviewing for C0-Occurring (Dual Diagnosis) Seminar, and a Health Psychology Seminar. Each year, a brief Didactic Seminar focusing on a specific topic is offered in the early summer and is attended by faculty and trainees. Both faculty and trainees also participate in the Student/Staff Seminar which includes a monthly discussion of Ethics, Diversity, and Professional Issues, case presentations by interns (each intern is required to make two case presentations to faculty and fellow trainees, integrating clinical data and scientific data from a review of the pertinent literature), case discussions, and talks by invited speakers.

In addition to the psychology-specific didactic offerings, the Psychiatry Department sponsors
a weekly Special Topics Seminar. Time permitting, psychology interns are welcome to attend lectures and seminars offered through the psychiatry residency program, also. As noted earlier, HCMC is a teaching hospital and each year the Office of Academic Affairs organizes numerous grand round presentations, lectures, and workshops that are available to all medical center staff and students. Finally, as part of the Hennepin County Medical Center 2009 Diversity and Inclusion initiative, the recently hired Diversity Consultant arranges different educational programs focusing on cultural diversity.