Prescription Privileges Debate

Abstract

Since the mid 1980s, clinical psychology has been debating whether to expand its scope of practice to include the functions of independently prescribing physicians throughout the United States and of advanced nurse practitioners in 14 states. The debate has focused primarily on what constitutes adequate medical training for licensed psychologists given their undergraduate and doctoral training lack courses in premedical sciences and medicine. The American Psychological Association proposes less than two years of postdoctoral training for prescription privileges, also referred to as prescriptive authority and RxP . In contrast, psychiatrists complete 10 years and psychiatric advanced nurse practitioners 6 years of premedical and medical training. There has been little progress in the pursuit of RxP . From 1995 to May 2014, over 173 bills have been submitted to legislatures and only three were signed into law (Territory of Guam, New Mexico, and Louisiana). The effects of these laws upon consumer safety are unknown.