Prescriptive Privileges for Clinical Psychologists

Prescriptive Privileges for clinical PsychologistsErin E. WoodIn the last thirty years, umteen parties within the American Psychological experience acquit made motions to march on the motion for clinical psychologists to kick in prescriptive privileges. With the motions made to promote prescriptive privileges, there start out in like manner been motions to counter the arguments made condenseing ethical drug(prenominal) medicine privileges. To query the claims made by both sides of the issue, the American Psychological Association has created a task force to assess the effects that prescriptive privileges leave behind hold in on education as well as psychology as a whole. This paper entrust discuss the arguments revolving around passe-partout person truth, monetary implications, the gist of professionals interested in prescriptive privileges, safety, and educational consequences of prescription privileges as well as my own opinions as to whether I support or oppo se the motion for clinical psychologists to obtain these privileges.Since the birth of psychology, American society has evolved to the point that individuals demand instant comfort. The desire for instant gratification has caused individuals one-stop shop for mental wellness services and medical examination professionals who can at once regulate medicationscausing physicians to become increasingly popular in par to psychologists (McGrath, 2010 Levine Schmelkin, 2006). By being able to enjoin medication duration proving good treatments to patients, prescriptive privileges leave aloneing non only assist patients by slip of paper out the middle-man, it get out likewise, fit in to Barnett and Neel (2000), result in higher flavor care. Although physicians are currently able to provide medication, they are often illiterate on the effects drugs have on mental health (Barnett Neel, 2000). Psychologists in favor of prescriptive privileges argue that, through training and p ractice, they are more than than apt to deal with prescribing medications and treatments that will treat mental health disorders than physicians who have real little training on mental health disorders (Barnett Neel, 2000). temporary hookup some psychologists entrust that prescription privileges is essential to keep psych other(a)apy from neat superfluous in equivalence to pharmacology and will assist in increasing the care for patients, others believe that these privileges will trade the change the professional identity of those practicing psychology (Wiggins espousals, 2004).Those who believe that psychologists should be in allowed prescription privileges believe that not only will prescription privileges keep psychologists from becoming overshadowed by physicians, they also believe that clinical psychologists would be in a unique plant to assess and to monitor when it comes to prescribing medication because, through doctoral training, they are more apt to study the effects of medications on patients (Barnett Neel, 2000). This would allow clinical psychologists to obey and extend their psychotherapeutic roots by giving them the opportunity to look into the effect medications have on mental disorders while giving behavioural and cognitive therapies to patients. While psychologists in support of prescriptive privileges argue that prescriptive privileges will give way to many new opportunities in psychology, those in opposition to these privileges claim that the liberty to prescribe medication will not create such a large window of opportunity and will cause psychologists to fall prey to advertizing from pharmaceutic companies.Many of the psychologists in opposition to prescriptive privileges believe that the addition of prescription privileges will change the direction of psychology towards an undesired directionultimately jeopardizing their professional integrity. They believe that, by placing more of an emphasis on medical treatments rather than behavioral treatments, psychology as we know it will come to an end because psychologists will be more interested in providing medications than therapy (Caccavale, 2002). Psychologists may not prescribe medications to patients based on their effectiveness, but more because will be advance by pharmaceutical companies.Currently, pharmaceutical companies create advertisements that strategically influence the opinions that physicians have on medications and bribe psychologists through means of money and continuing education to encourage them to prescribe these medications (Antonuccio, Danton McClanahan, 2003). Bribing and advertising does not only affect practicing physicians, according to Antonuccio, Danton and McClanhan (2003), pharmaceutical companies assert their influence as early as medical schoolmeeting with students to promote medication. This influence asserted by pharmaceutical companies over physicians and medical students can taint the objectivity of psychologists and, in radical cases, place the patient in harms way. Although psychologists who are against prescriptive privileges believe that the integrity of the profession will be negatively impacted by the bribes and advertising of pharmaceutical companies, those who support prescriptive privileges believe that these privileges will increase the financial status and interest in the profession.The pharmaceutical manufacture is one of the windy growing industries in the United States being dubbed the most lucrative industry in the United States (Antonuccio, Danton McClanahan, 2003). By being one of the most profitable industries in the nation, if psychologists were given the right to prescribe, it would not only give clinical psychologists an edge, it would also encourage individuals to join the profession. With prescriptive privileges, psychologists will also be able to partake in the benefits of pharmacology by receiving insurance reimbursements and increased status within health ins titutions (McGrath, 2010). McGrath (2010) claims that this increased status will not only benefit psychologists in private practice, hospitals, and other intuitions, it will also benefit the pedantic community by funding research projects. Although there are many financial benefits to both the counselling and academic communities of clinical psychology, there are also drawbacks that could potentially outweigh the benefits.First, while pharmaceutical companies have been known to provide bribes and false information to professionals with prescription privileges to increase drug sales, they have also been responsible for increasing levels of mercantile system and malpractice allegations within health professions (Antonuccio, Danton McClanahan, 2003 Stuart Heiby, 2007, p. 6). Commercialization of medications has further tainted the objectivity of health professionals because, according to Stuart and Heiby (2007), although prescribers are able to deny medication to patients, they are more likely to give medications that have been requested by the client til now if they are ill-informed of the drug. Physicians may be becoming more willing to prescribe requested medications because the negative side effects of drugs have drastically reduced making it less of a risk for them to prescribe them (Levine Schmelkin, 2006). While medications have become safer to prescribe, when complications arise, the professionals who prescribe the medications will be the ones at risk for malpractice lawsuitsnot the pharmaceutical companies.In the article To Prescribe of Not to Prescribe xi Exploratory Questions, Stuart and Heiby (2007) discuss the lack of support insurance companies have for professionals in malpractice lawsuits. Many insurance companies have created new policies when dealing with malpractice because the rate and salute of settlements that have risen so sharply during the past decade (Stuart Heiby, 2007, p. 22). Because of this, it can be very expensive for a psy chologist to pay for the insurance to cover malpractice, or pay for the legal counsel because their insurance does not cover malpractice. harmonise to Wiggins and Wedding (2004) only a small majority of psychiatric nurses clinical psychologists who have gone through training to prescribe medication have insurance policies that cover malpracticeeven when it is in many ways cheaper than other forms of insurance (p.150). This could be because, although psychiatric nurses are able to prescribe medications, very few of them actually utilize prescription privileges (Wiggins Wedding 2004, p. 149). Due to the amount of psychiatric nurses who refrain from prescriptive privileges, before the APA-financial-military-RNP-courseworkReferencesAntonuccio, D. O., Danton, W., McClanahan, T. M. (2003). psychological science in the prescription era Building a firewall between marketing and science.American Psychologist,58(12), 1028-1043.Barnett, J. E., Neel, M. L. (2000). Must all psychologists s tudy psychopharmacology?Professional psychology Research and Practice,31(6), 619-627.Caccavale, J. (2002). Opposition to prescriptive authority Is this a case of the tail wagging the dog.Journal of Clinical Psychology,58(6), 623-633.DeLeon, P. H., Dunivin, D. L., Newman, R. (2002). The tide rises.Clinical Psychology accomplishment and Practice,9(3), 249-255.Levine, E. S., Schmelkin, L. P. (2006). A move to prescribe A change in paradigm.Professional Psychology Research and Practice,37(2), 205-209.McGrath, R. (2010). 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