Prescriptive Privilege: A Stand Against Granting Psychologists
Prescriptive Privilege: A Stand against Granting Psychologists Prescriptive Authority
Prescriptive Privilege: A Stand against Granting Psychologists Prescriptive Authority
In this age of globalization, businesses are racing to combine products to offer one-stop-shop services. The profession of psychology has secured a place on the track by championing prescriptive privileges to psychologists. The shortage of psychiatrists to prescribe psychotropic medication is one of the leading reasons that drive proponents within the field of psychology to advocate the movement to grant prescriptive authority to psychologists. Although obvious implications of psychologists having prescriptive authority may include positive results for public mental …show more content…
This leaves many psychologists wondering why the same privilege cannot be given to their profession. The fundamental concerns with prescription privileges are neither the client convenience nor marketability of psychologist’s profession, but education and training. For most of the lay community, the only thing that differentiates a psychologist from a psychiatrist is the ability to prescribe psychotropic medications. This is untrue. There are significant differences in undergraduate, pre –doctoral, and post-doctoral training of each discipline. More specifically, psychiatrists are required to complete a considerable number of hours in physical science and pharmacology coursework. This academic disparity puts psychologists at a severe disadvantage for competently prescribing psychotropic medications. According to Robiner, Bearman, Berman, Grove, Colon, Armstrong, Mareck, and Tanenbaum (2003), “strict continuing education requirements would be warranted to keep psychologists up-to-date with the burgeoning formulary of psychotropic and nonpsychotropic medications (with which they may interact) and to assist them in overcoming gaps associated with their condensed training” (p. …show more content…
The barriers they encounter could also differ. This attempt to maximize the effectiveness of psychology is yet again missing the mark. In this push to provide better services, proponents are neglecting to consider the effects on different race groups. As mention earlier, the shortage of psychiatrist, mainly in rural areas, is the driving force for prescriptive privileges. It is logical to assume that because psychologist charge less than psychiatrists a large portion of their clients are of African descent. Despite unique barriers these clients are receiving non-medication therapy. The simplest mention of medication could deter a client from returning to therapy or worst sentence a client to a life of drug dependability and
Prescriptive Privilege: A Stand against Granting Psychologists Prescriptive Authority
In this age of globalization, businesses are racing to combine products to offer one-stop-shop services. The profession of psychology has secured a place on the track by championing prescriptive privileges to psychologists. The shortage of psychiatrists to prescribe psychotropic medication is one of the leading reasons that drive proponents within the field of psychology to advocate the movement to grant prescriptive authority to psychologists. Although obvious implications of psychologists having prescriptive authority may include positive results for public mental …show more content…
This leaves many psychologists wondering why the same privilege cannot be given to their profession. The fundamental concerns with prescription privileges are neither the client convenience nor marketability of psychologist’s profession, but education and training. For most of the lay community, the only thing that differentiates a psychologist from a psychiatrist is the ability to prescribe psychotropic medications. This is untrue. There are significant differences in undergraduate, pre –doctoral, and post-doctoral training of each discipline. More specifically, psychiatrists are required to complete a considerable number of hours in physical science and pharmacology coursework. This academic disparity puts psychologists at a severe disadvantage for competently prescribing psychotropic medications. According to Robiner, Bearman, Berman, Grove, Colon, Armstrong, Mareck, and Tanenbaum (2003), “strict continuing education requirements would be warranted to keep psychologists up-to-date with the burgeoning formulary of psychotropic and nonpsychotropic medications (with which they may interact) and to assist them in overcoming gaps associated with their condensed training” (p. …show more content…
The barriers they encounter could also differ. This attempt to maximize the effectiveness of psychology is yet again missing the mark. In this push to provide better services, proponents are neglecting to consider the effects on different race groups. As mention earlier, the shortage of psychiatrist, mainly in rural areas, is the driving force for prescriptive privileges. It is logical to assume that because psychologist charge less than psychiatrists a large portion of their clients are of African descent. Despite unique barriers these clients are receiving non-medication therapy. The simplest mention of medication could deter a client from returning to therapy or worst sentence a client to a life of drug dependability and