The wonderful Dr. Curtis Cripe is one of the world’s leading neuropsychologists and he has dedicated his life to neurology, gaining a greta deal of respect along the way. We had the great pleasure of speaking with Dr. Cripe recently and we wanted to know what kind of a person would go into this field of medicine. What we really wanted to know was’t so much what a person needs to possess in order to do this job, but rather what kind of core skills and characteristics would they need to have. After speaking with Dr. Cripe, we have a pretty good idea.
Patience
Patience is clearly one of the most important values to have within this field of medicine because the fact of the matter is that everything takes a long time. If someone breaks their arm then it can be reset and then the body will recover, if however someone has a behavioral problem then it could take years to fix, and that is why tis profession requires patience. There is also the fact that there is still so much that we just don’t understand about the brain, and in many cases there amy be no answer to the problem that has been presented.
Teamworking
This branch of medicine more than any other requires someone to be a key team player and that is because the brain shows many different behaviors on various parts of the body. A neuropsychologist may have to work with up to 5 or 6 professionals from various specializations when working with a single patient and that means that they have to put egos aside, communicate well and work as one with the other players in the team.
Thick Skinned
Because of the nature of the disorders that can take place in the brain there is no telling what people may say or do when they are going through tretemnemt and it is very clear that thick skin is a must in this profession. There are some tough situations which medical professionals must go through when it comes to patients with mental difficulties and that can be very hard on many people. This of course is all the more difficult when someone first starts in the field.
Admin
It may not sound very exciting but everyone should know before they embark on this career that admin is going to make up a huge chunk of the job in neuropsychology and that is because of the importance of documenting every detail. Every action or word spoken by a patient could indicate some brain activity and that is why everything must be documented for the future. Naturally when you get to a senior level there will be someone doing all this for you, but first you have to get there and in order to do that you’ll have to bring forward your admin skills in all of their glory.
Do you think you have what it takes?
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