The medical field in the United States has been faced with a couple of a meticulous campaign debating whether the psychologists should have a bequeathed mandate to prescribe medication to the patients or not. In addition to the above statement, the American Psychological Association (APA) has been on the front to vocally point out the need and the reasons unto why this campaign should be left to them (Whitehead pg.6). Though the two different bodies have highly practiced and vowed to help the civilians to recover fully, there has been a serious challenge on to whom should be fully left and mandated to give the prescription in this field. Moreover, the medical practitioners do the practical part, which is the analysis of the human health to determine the best medication for the patient; the psychiatrists also claim to have a part in this. On the same note, the ironical part is that the medical practitioners are to look into the previous historical medical records of a patient before prescription of any medical treatment to the patient. However, the issue of psychiatrists prescribing medication to the patients is against medical ethics but rather be left to the well-practiced doctors.
The author’s position
In this paper, the author seems to have highly opposed the issue of the psychologist to administer medication to the patients. In addition to the above statement, the author seems to strongly have differed with the ideology of psychologist to prescribe medications. Moreover, the author provides factual supporting from his arguments, that the some of the registered Psychologists under the American Psychological Association have highly neglected ethical concerns. Through this, the ideology and thesis concerning “why the medical prescription should be left to the psychiatrist” are well objected. On the contrary, the author’s standings are well presented highlighting the basic assumption steps that have been neglected (Tyger). In addition to the above statement, the author argues perceptively, that the there is a greater need to consider all these aspects before giving a chance to the psychologists. Moreover, the author uses this opportunity to clarify his point of view that most of the individuals already they visit the primary care physician for consultation and psychotropic medical attention. In this manner, the author strongly argues from his angle that, the opportunity should be offered to the psychologists to fill the gap, especially in the rural areas. However, the need to consider the medical expenses will limit this.
Evaluation of the argument and determination of the ethical assumptions
The ideology of bequeathing the psychiatrist with the mandate and opportunity to administer the medical supplies to the patients has had a couple of challenges that ought to be considered from the technical point of view. In As much as the APA is emphasizing on this matter to bequeath the registered psychologies with a license to administer these services, some ethical and technical issues seem to have been omitted from these perspectives. To begin with, the ideology of the psychologists to move and feel the gap in the rural areas is faced with a couple of challenge. In addition to the above statement, the issue of finance is a great challenge, especially to the private sectors. On the contrary, the ideology of training the psychologist to partake this task has an ethical challenge as well. To begin with, the illness such as the mental care needs a critical examination as well as observation of the patient’s progress (Doherty et al., pg 7). Through this, it is obvious that there is the need to have trained an individual in this field rather than having half-baked individuals in the medical field. As a matter of fact, mental health required proper knowledge of a particular problem and ways through which to control the patient. However, in this aspect, the (APA) assumes that the psychologists will offer competent skills as well as ideas to mitigate the condition of these patients. Secondly, there is a higher assumption in regards that, allowing the prescription of medication by the psychiatrist in a more authoritative manner will help speed and better the services offered. However, this is not the case, as medical practitioners undergo a meticulous campaign before they are fully acknowledged as medical practitioners. More so, there skills and knowledge are trained to analyze the medical problems from all angles and not a specific organized program to issue them with a license to operate.
References
Doherty, Regina F., and Ruth B. Purtilo. Ethical Dimensions in the Health Professions-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2015.
Tyger Latham Why Medication Should be Left to Psychiatrists (2011) sourced:https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/therapy-matters/201105/why-medication-should-be-left-psychiatrists
[ Accessed: 20-02-2018]
Whitehead, Phyllis B., et al. "Moral distress among healthcare professionals: Report of an institution‐wide survey." Journal of Nursing Scholarship
47.2 (2015): 117-125.
