Resident Expectations

Residents are exposed to a variety of speakers through a comprehensive didactic seminar series throughout the training year. Didactics focus on a range of relevant topics, designed to build upon and enhance prior knowledge and experiences, as well as complement the direct service/experiential training provided during residency. All didactic seminars are expected to be professional grade presentations with evidence-based citations and references as indicated. Seminars are also expected to assist residents in attending to individual and cultural diversity factors.

Didactic seminars are held once per month for eight (8) hours at varying Sanford Health campus locations. Residents are expected to be present on-site for these seminars. In the instance of inclement weather, residents will be contacted by the Training Director(s) and informed that the didactic seminar will be held via high quality videoconferencing. Attendance at didactics is mandatory for all residents and is required for successful completion of residency. Attendance at these scheduled activities takes priority over other site obligations each week. Site supervisors are aware of these activities and their requirement for residents. A didactic calendar is distributed during orientation and may be updated throughout the year.

A resident is permitted no more than one absence during the calendar year. After the second absence, residents will receive a reminder from the Training Director(s). The Training Director(s) must be notified in advance of planned absences. Residents who miss a meeting of the didactic seminar or other group because of a serious emergency or for a serious illness should alert their Site Supervisor and the Training Director(s) as soon as possible.

One licensed psychologist serves as the primary clinical supervisor at each postdoctoral site. The supervisor holds primary responsibility for all cases under supervision. Residents receive a minimum of two (2) hours of face-to-face individual supervision each week from their primary supervisor. Supplemental weekly individual supervision is provided as needed and all sites subscribe to an informal “open door” policy, encouraging residents to approach supervisors and staff with questions and concerns “on the fly.”

In addition to individual supervision, residents are provided with one (1) hour of scheduled group supervision each week. Group supervision is led by one of the supervising psychologists and is conducted via video conferencing. Group supervision may focus on legal/ethical issues, professional development topics, and/or clinical concerns. In total, residents receive a minimum of 3 hours per week of formal, scheduled supervision that is prioritized and protected. Residents will also have the opportunity to participate in multidisciplinary group supervision or case consultation at their training sites for an additional 1-2 hours per week of learning.

Residents are referred to as “psychology residents” during all interactions and are required to introduce themselves as supervised residents during initial contacts with patients. They must also provide the name and credentials of their primary supervisor, who co-signs all written documentation as an additional layer of oversight and responsibility.

The Sanford Health Postdoctoral Psychology Residency program requires that residents demonstrate minimum levels of achievement across all nine APA profession-wide competencies, as measured by the Sanford Health Postdoctoral Psychology Resident Evaluation.

Informal feedback to residents should be ongoing throughout the training year, with any concerns discussed early and often. Residents are informally evaluated by their primary supervisor at 60-90 days of their residency and formally evaluated by their primary supervisor two times annually, in month 5 and month 10.

Formal evaluations are conducted using a standard rating form using a Likert Scale that includes comment spaces where supervisors include specific written feedback regarding the residents’ performance and progress. The evaluation form includes information about performance in all nine profession-wide competencies and associated learning elements.

In addition to the evaluations described above, residents must complete a self-evaluation form at the beginning and end of the residency. Residents must complete an evaluation of their supervisor at 5-months, and 10-months and a program evaluation at the end of the training year in order to provide feedback that informs any changes or improvements in the training program. Residents are required to submit evaluations for each didactic session during the year. All evaluation forms can be located in the Resident Handbook, on the MedHub platform, and on http://www.sh-ppr.org/. Evaluations are submitted to the Training Director(s) via MedHub.

All residents are expected to complete 2080 hours of training during the residency year with a minimum of 500 hours in face-to-face clinical service delivery. Meeting the hours requirement, attending required training experiences (e.g., didactic seminars, consultation groups), and obtaining sufficient ratings on all evaluations demonstrates that the resident has progressed satisfactorily through and completed the residency program.

Doctoral residents are also expected to achieve the goals and objectives of the residency program, as stated on the Program Overview section of the Resident Handbook, and as reflected by final evaluation scores meeting the minim level of achievement as stated in the Resident Evaluation Policy. Residents are expected to attend all mandatory training activities, as well as to abide by the APA Code of Ethics, the Sanford Health Postdoctoral Psychology Resident Code of Conduct, and the requirements of Sanford Health Postdoctoral Psychology Residency training program