Ronald E. Fox

Prescription privileges: Psychology's next frontier?

In the past 5 years there has been a growing interest among psychology practitioners in obtaining prescription privileges, and relevant policy documents have reflected increasing support from the APA. The nonphysician health manpower literature has demonstrated that a wide range of professionals can be trained to prescribe medications competently, while maintaining quality of care; within federal agencies, psychologists have legally prescribed medications. Ongoing debates in Hawaii and in the U.S. Department of Defense may be laying the foundation for psychologys training and practice agenda for the 1990s. Were psychologists to have this clinical privilege, many societal needs--including addressing the longstanding problems of excessive medication of elderly persons and quality care for the chronically mentally ill and for persons residing in rural areas--could be met.

Training professional psychologists for the twenty-first century.

The continued growth and development of professional psychology may ultimately stand or fall on the integrity of the educational system that prepares future generations of practitioners. Currently, the educational enterprise is unduly hampered by several significant impediments. These impediments are identified and resolutions are proposed that would, if implemented, greatly enhance psychologys ability to assume its rightful place as a major autonomous profession that is properly positioned to address some of the nations pressing social needs.

Prescriptive authority and psychology: A status report.

The progress of psychology toward the acquisition of prescriptive authority is critically reviewed. Advances made by other nonphysician health care professions toward expanding their scopes of practice to include prescriptive authority are compared with gains made by professional psychology. Societal trends affecting attitudes toward the use of psychotropic medications are reviewed, and the potential influence of such trends on the prescriptive authority movement is examined. A history of the prescriptive authority movement is documented, and recent legislative and policy initiatives are discussed.

Corporate funding and conflicts of interest: a primer for psychologists.

A presidential task force on external funding was established by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2003 to review APA policies, procedures, and practices regarding the acceptance of funding and support from private corporations for educational and training programs; continuing education offerings; research projects; publications; advertising; scientific and professional meetings and conferences; and consulting, practice, and advocacy relationships. This article, based on the Executive Summary of the APA Task Force on External Funding Final Report, presents the findings and unanimous recommendations of the task force in the areas of association income, annual convention, research and journals, continuing education, education, practice, and conflicts of interest and ethics. The task force concluded that it is important for both APA and individual psychologists to become familiar with the challenges that corporate funding can pose to their integrity. The nature and extent of those challenges led the task force to recommend that APA develop explicit policies, educational materials, and continuing education programs to preserve the independence of psychological science, practice, and education.