Students Gain Experience through Internship Program
Last September Anna Synnestvedt, MA, SLP-CF, accepted a full-time speech and language pathology position at Inova Rehabilitation Center. Right away she hit the ground running because she was familiar with the pace and typical diagnoses of the inpatient rehabilitation program. This was because Synnestvedt had completed an internship at Inova Rehabilitation Center in early 2010 while pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Maryland.
“The internship gave me a much better idea of the type of patients and different disorders I would see. Working directly under an experienced SLP provided me great support and real world training.” said Anna.
Inova Rehabilitation Center offers many clinical opportunities for graduate students in physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, therapeutic recreation, social work and psychology. The length of the internship may be part-time (one day a week, few hours a day) or full-time (two to fourteen weeks). Through one-to-one supervision, students gain knowledge of clinical management of patients in the adult rehabilitation setting. They participate in evaluation and treatment, family meetings and rounds.
The internship program has been in place for many years and on average 30 students have participated annually. Martha M. Johnson, CCC-SLP, Education Coordinator, said, “The program provides students with a wonderful opportunity to gain clinical knowledge." The program also serves as a recruitment tool for hiring new employees who have proven to be successful in the acute rehab environment.
Individuals who are interested in exploring rehabilitation medicine or seek observation hours to apply to graduate school may observe in the inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation programs. For more information, contact Martha M. Johnson, CCC-SLP, at
703-664-7491 or martha.johnson@inova.org.
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