Anyone ever interviewed for UT Southwestern's Clinical Psychology program?

[AnnzPB]

I got invited to interview for the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. This program is one of my top choices for admission, and so I wanted to ask you lovely folks out there if anyone has interviewed for this program before...?

Most of the other clinical psychology Ph.D. programs I applied to are research-based, and so I am hoping to get some advice on how to prepare to interview for this program, since it is a practice-based Ph.D. program. For all the other schools I applied to, you had to express an interest to work/research with a specific professor (typical stuff for academic Ph.D. programs). However, UT Southwestern doesn't operate on the mentor-based model, and so applicants are interviewing to be accepted into the program at large.

I'm just looking for any advice anyone may have on how to prepare for this type of program since the typical stuff around researching individual professors' research doesn't really apply here.

Thanks so much, everyone!

[Parkland uber alles]

Dear spiffyonion,

You should know that Parkland, UTSW's main teaching hospital, and UTSW are in big trouble with federal and state regulators, and likely going to close down in the near future for many big violations. Parkland was kicked out of Medicare/Medicaid and are currently in probation after their psych ER killed a patient, named George Cornell, after asphyxiating him. The psych department is also accused of choking, hitting, and false imprisoning many patients against their will in solitary confinement. Psychiatry is just a mess at Parkland, and many staff members (especially from UTSW) were kicked out or left.

UTSW settled a Medicare fraud lawsuit with the UD Dept. of Justice for patient billing fraud last September. It's psych department is currently under ongoing federal investigation for hiring medical student moonlighters in the psych ER who practicing medicine without any license. The Dallas Morning News (DMN) has been doing a 2-year investigative series at Parkland and UTSW about many problems, and they have almost 200 articles written about the corruption and incompetence at both institutions. (See http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/patient-safety/ as a start for more information.)

Here are some more references (a small list) to read to find out more about UTSW/Parkland before you make any decision or interview with them. You can google under Parkland Hospital, to see for yourself.

If you haven’t interviewed, then ask some very questions. You can also tell them I told you about the program. I’m sure they will say something lame like, “Someone, including the DMN, has a vendetta against them.

DMN:

· “State inspectors return to Parkland Memorial Hospital’s psychiatric emergency room to investigate new patient-harm complaints,” at http://watchdogblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/10/inspectors-return-to-parkland.html

· “Editorial: Public needs more details on patient safety at hospitals,” at

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20111017-editorial-public-needs-more-details-on-patient-safety-at-hospitals.ece

·“First, do no harm,” the DMN investigative series up to the current date at http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/patient-safety/

·“First, do no harm,” the DMN investigative series up to 2/04/11 at http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/patient-safety/

·"First, do no harm,” the DMN investigative series up to 8/21/11 at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/photography/2010/hospitals_ece/

· “UT Southwestern record contradicts its claim about paying medical students to work in Parkland Memorial Hospital’s psychiatric emergency room,” at http://watchdogblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/08/ut-southwestern-medical-center.html

·“Patient Safety at Texas Hospitals,” at http://dmnhospitals.heroku.com/hospitals

·“Parkland in Dallas has been among Texas’ worst hospitals for patient safety for years, analysis shows,” at http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/patient-safety/headlines/20111015-parkland-in-dallas-has-been-among-texas-worst-hospitals-for-patient-safety-for-years-analysis-shows.ece

·“Hernia-surgery death shows human cost of Parkland’s poor safety statistics,” at http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/patient-safety/headlines/20111015-hernia-surgery-death-shows-human-cost-of-parklands-poor-safety-statistics.ece

·“How U.S. News could hail Parkland even as inspectors found it deficient,” at http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/patient-safety/headlines/20111015-how-u.s.-news-could-hail-parkland-even-as-inspectors-found-it-deficient.ece

Patient victims chronicled in the news at Parkland:

· George Cornell: died of heart arrhythmia while under physical restraints and solitary confinement after a physical altercation with Parkland staff where he was held face-down with technicians on his back. Parkland failed to report this sentinel event.

· Mike Herrera: died of a heart attack while waiting 17 hours in the ER waiting room without seeing anyone.

· Jessie Mae Ned: longtime employee of Parkland who eventually had her leg amputated after a PGY-2 orthopedic resident badly injured her popliteal artery and infected her leg. Parkland fired her and tried to bury Ms. Ned in debt as retaliation.

· Irene Arancibia: died after being discharged hours after an elective laproscopic hernia repair surgery in which residents twice perforated her bowels. Parkland failed to admit the patient for overnight observation after the experimental invasive surgery.

· Jennifer Culbertson: committed suicide after Parkland evaluated the severely depressed woman, admitted for suicidal intent and discharged her within hours without any treatment and on her own recognizance.

· Robert Malone: Parkland nurses waited 14 hours to send him to Parkland for an appendectomy after showing signs of a “surgical abdomen.” Parkland residents failed to complete remove his appendix which led to the patient becoming critically ill.

· Amber Joy Milbrodt: broke her leg and waited 19 hours in the ER without a doctor seeing her before she got fed up and left.

· Tamica Millard: placed in harm’s way after given narcotics and discharged out into the streets without any clothes, except her hospital gown, in a semiconscious state.

· Patient Stanfield: nearly died of complications of congestive heart failure after Parkland fluid-overloaded the patients for burn resuscitation. His wife, Majorie Stanfield, wrote an article in the DMN on the contempt that Parkland’s staff treated her husband.

· Ted Powers: crippled and wheelchair bound for life after botch operation by unsupervised orthopedic residents.

· Sara Limon: residents cut her common bile duct after going to the OR without notifying a licensed attending surgeon.

· Sonia Soto: died of a “brain infection” and had her organs removed, including her brain, without the family’s consent.

· Jose Manuel Calleros-Avila: confused brain surgery patient allowed to walk out of hospital and not found until a day later almost 7 miles away. This sentinel event occurred days before CMS inspectors arrived.

[AnnzPB]

Thanks for the info, Parklanduberalles. In any case, is there anyone else out there who may have interviewed at / heard about UT Southwestern's clinical psychology PhD program?

My interview is this Friday/Saturday, so any information you may have about UTSW's clinical psych PhD program (not their hospital affiliate; I am already aware of those issues) would be greatly appreciated.