The Psychology Centre

Prescription priviledges for psychologists: Where does New Zealand stand?
John Fitzgerald & Karma Galyer

Survey running: 7 January 2008 - 29 February 2008

The issue of prescribing rights for psychologists has been a subject of debate for many years in the international community. An article published recently in both the Bulletin of the NZ Psychological Society and the regular newsletter of the NZ College of Clinical Psychologists (ShrinkRAP) outlined some considerations pertinent to this debate. The topic has become more salient of late as psychologist prescribing has been approved in some US states, with many other applications underway. At the same time the Ministry of Health has sought consultation for the development of a third class of prescribing practitioner in New Zealand, the ‘collaborative prescriber’. They are exploring the idea that a “non-prescribing heath practitioner, after authorization from their registration authority, may prescribe under the supervision of an authorized prescriber.” With the support of the National Executives of both the NZCCP and NZPsS, The Psychology Centre is conducting a national survey of all College/Society members in order to gauge opinions on this subject.

Participation is voluntary and anonymous. The survey includes some questions regarding the structure of your work, some background information, and some questions about your views on the prescribing rights issue. We are collecting the background demographic data because we need to check we have a representative sample of psychologist, and we may want to look at the impact of respondents’ work roles on their views of these issues. Data from the survey will be collated and presented via the Society's/College’s publications as soon as it is available.

If you are a psychologist working in New Zealand, or a student of psychology in New Zealand, and have not yet completed a form but wish to do so you can either contact one of the research team members (John Fitzgerald, Karma Galyer, Julia Davis) on 07-834-1520 or print off the survey form yourself and return it to The Psychology Centre at the address on our home page. Please submit the survey once only.

A short article providing the background to the project can be found in two places,

• Fitzgerald, J. M. & Galyer, K. T. (2007). Prescription priviledges for psychologists: Where does New Zealand stand? The Bulletin of the New Zealand Psychological Society, 109, 18-20.
• Fitzgerald, J. M. & Galyer, K. T. (2007). Prescription priviledges for psychologists: Where does New Zealand stand? ShrinkRap, December.

A copy of the survey form that we used (.pdf format) can be found by clicking here.

Links:
NZ Psychological Society
NZ College of Clinical Psychologists