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[chicandtoughness]

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[deleted343839]

Depending on the setting, a nursing degree may get you farther.

 

[jmiah717]

Nursing degree couldn't hurt but most Clinical Directors or department heads I've met are Master's level or PhD with clinical experience. I've even met some CEO's with the same background. But size and scope of clinic are important to be able to answer that question.


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[chicandtoughness]

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[jmiah717]

Hm. So PhD in Clinical Psychology with an RN? Assume for the sake of this argument that the PhD is already a given. I'm not looking to oversee a hospital, but perhaps something like a small residential eating disorders program with 10 beds or so.

You don't need anything more than a PhD for that. And you could probably do it with less at a lot of places. Most places are also going to have a Director of Nursing so you really would probably be choosing one or the other, Clinical or nursing.


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[deleted343839]

Hm. So PhD in Clinical Psychology with an RN? Assume for the sake of this argument that the PhD is already a given. I'm not looking to oversee a hospital, but perhaps something like a small residential eating disorders program with 10 beds or so.

A PhD would be enough (more than), though you'd want to pick up some administrative experience somewhere along the way.

 

[chicandtoughness]

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[BuckeyeLove]

if that's your goal, you're going to want to ensure that your training provides sound guidance in the practice of politicking.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I wouldn't think you would need more degrees. I think that some hospitals do seem to put nurses in administrative roles, but I don't think that is the case with more specialized psych treatment programs such as eating disorders. I also think that psychologists are some of the best qualified to run these types of programs and oversee the delivery of services, supervise clinical staff, evaluate outcomes, provide guidance for legal and ethical dilemmas, develop new programmatic elements based on current research, and I am sure others could add to the list. For some reason, I don't think psychologists put themselves in these leadership roles enough or don't recognize the skills that they have which will apply.