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wait, you never answered my question. How would the treatment of a patient differ between psychiatrist and prescribing psychologists when medicine clears?
wait, you never answered my question. How would the treatment of a patient differ between psychiatrist and prescribing psychologists when medicine clears?
The only reason Heimlich says he is tired of the discussion is because he was caught in multiple bold faced lies. If I recall correctly, he was suspended from this board many moons ago.
LSU does, in fact, allow psychologists to prescribe. LSU is my graduate program and some of the psychologists at the student health center prescribe to students who go to the counseling center. I don't know about LSUHSC, but if a psychologist pushed the issue to prescribe, they would have to let her/him. IT'S THE LAW.
Unlike what Heim said, psychologists are prescribing in all state facilities: the hospitals, prisons, developmental centers. Anybody who lives in LA know this... If they say otherwise, they're lying.
Every hospital is allowed to have their own criteria regarding scope of practice. For example some hospitals allow Family Practice doctors to perform appendectomies in the operating room but many do not.
There is not a single hospital in Louisiana that will give privileges to a psychologist to prescribe medications. It just will not happen.
That is true, though I think where people are in disagreement was the initial post that started the ball rolling.....
This, as we know, is not correct.
What I'd like is for the discussion to get back on topic, and not become heimlichboy vs. etc. Obviously there are a range of opinions in this thread, which is why it is important to differentiate between opinion and fact. Opinions are fine (as long as it is not for the sole purpose of trolling), though it is important to provide citations or similar for statements that are proposed as fact.
It looks like Missouri is really stepping up efforts to gain RxP. Check out this EXCELLENT website -- the links about psychiatry on it are very interesting
http://www.mofact.com/RxP.html
Please tell me how I'm completely wrong.
I am admittedly ill-informed about the daily aspects of both psychologists and psychiatrists; I was not trolling. What are some areas where there is no overlap?As far as the role of psychologists and psychiatrists....there are many more areas of psychology and psychiatry outside of this one possible overlap, so I see the consulting relationship continuing.
Your inference about the beliefs of psychologists in regard to psychiatry are off base. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but you seem to be making large generalizations and painting with the broadest possible strokes, which makes me question your intent for your post in here.
I am admittedly ill-informed about the daily aspects of both psychologists and psychiatrists; I was not trolling. What are some areas where there is no overlap?
Here is a listing of some common/different areas.....though it is important to remember that "mentoring" for psychology is very different than psychiatry, just like running research is different, administration is different, etc.
Psychology: Administer psych assessments, conduct therapy, teach, research, publish, mentor (academic & applied), consult outside of psych, witness/expert, management/administration, etc.
Psychiatry: (any psychiatrists please feel free to add to this) Meds management in-patient/out-patient, run sleep/neuro/related labs, research, teach, mentor, witness/expert, etc.
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You would do well to know what you are talking about before you become absolutely horrified.
The website at www.mofact.com contains no Scientology videos and is in no way connected to Scientology nor has it ever been.
Mofact has not been affiliated with Missouri Psychological Assn for some 1 1/2 years and Dr. Marci Manna has not been associated with it for that length of time either. She has no involvement with Mofact or it's website or activities and has no input either.
I know both the Executive Director of Mofact, an MBA who works pro bono on behalf of Mofact and the advancement of your forthcoming "profession", and Dr. Manna who has spent several years working on behalf of the future of that same profession. Although I would have to question why when I read such irresponsible prattle as that which you have posted on this forum.
You really should write the APA and cancel your membership and spare responsible dedicated professional psychologists and students the embarrassment. You owe Mofact, Dr. Manna and the profession an apology for irresponsible behavior. I felt we had responsible, dedicated student/professionals coming up behind us in our profession. In your case, I was sadly mistaken.
Also... just out of curiosity, anyone know how reimbursement works for medical psychologists? Do they make more than a regular Clinical Psychologist? It would seem that ought to at least make a bit more because of their additional training (and expense). Any salary range guesses? I haven't really seen anything.
however, from both his colleagues' and his own experience, psychiatrists go so long without actually using their knowledge of physiology (beyond their limited knowledge of the brain), that other specialists end up actually seeing most drug complications long before the psychiatrist ever notices them (or anticipates them). For that reason, he is very much for psychopharm for psychologists as we at least would understand our limitations (something many psychiatrists evidently do not) and because we would be required (by law) to consult with the PCP regularly about each patient, there would be both a stronger continuum of care and an ongoing conversation about side effects and things to watch for. His feeling on giving PCPs additional training in psych is that they already have so much to do that it would simply not be possible to load them with that kind of training (nor could they fill the need seeing as their is already a critical shortage of PCPs nationally, not including having to do additional psychiatric care). Basically, he is of the opinion that we need a competent class of mid-level providers who can be trained quickly to fill in this gap. Furthermore, because of programs such as UpToDate that actually do most of the work for doctors in terms of choosing the appropriate medication and looking up potential complications, side effects and drug interactions, it is even more unlikely that the initially limited training of a psychologist would cause improper prescribing. Finally, he has said that such programs as NP and PA programs would be a huge waste of time and be unlikely to train us properly, considering our needs. That is, if you trained as a PA (the shorter of the two for a psychologist, by far), it would take 3 years total (full time -- 2 years for the PA program itself and 1 year for all the pre-req coursework); however, because your courses would be meant for a generalist, you would be ill-suited for actual practice in psychopharm. I'm sure he could go on, but that's the gist of what he told me.
So anyone have any thoughts?
To clarify, this MD does not think psychiatrists are incompetent. He simply notes that A) their own arguments about why psychologists cannot be trained to effectively prescribe (lack of knowledge of biomed/anatomy/physiology/disease/etc. and unaware of the rest of the body) are largely the same as the complaints that are made by other specialties about psychiatrists (he only brought that up when I brought up the psychiatrists' arguments against Rx for psychologists -- which really just made him laugh) and B) there are far too many people in need of medically-based mental health treatment (as well as psychotherapy) for the number of psychiatrists in most areas of the country (and specifically this state)
I agree with Chimed....pursuing prescription privileges should be about meeting a need, and smearing the other side really isn't an honest nor effective approach.
I have tremendous respect for psychologists and their training, but some of the arguments that I've heard that use trashing psychiatrists to support their case for prescribing makes me lose interest and respect for their position.
There are fiefdoms and isolated schools of thought, and the variation in quality is more apparent than in nursing or pharmacy, etc. The differences are more akin to a philosophy department in college than a health profession.