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i was just curious about what the differences are between being a psych np or a psychologist. np's can prescribe meds and do psychotherapy...what more can a psychologist do vs. a np?thanks in advance,
kris
there are things that psychologist can do that a psych np cannot do like running certain kind of psychological tests. there are things that psychologist can't do that a psych np can do. for instant, if you have schizophrenia, diabetes, and some kind of heart disease, a psych np can treat all three conditions while a psychologist would not be able and will have to refer to a family doc or something like that. also a psychologist would not be looking for other medical conditions like diabetes.
there are overlaps between psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, and psych nps, but they all have different skill set.
take a look at the description of psych np at ucsf at
http://nurseweb.ucsf.edu/www/spec-psy.htm
also take a look at the american pscyh nurse assoication also
http://www.apna.org/faq/aboutnursing.html
-dan
In NY State and others, a licensed psychologist is fully indepedent. There is no need to have a collaborating agreement with an M.D. (Certainly any wise practitioner would want to know of a few psychiatrists to refer a patient to, or a good crisis clinic,etc. but no formal collaborative agreement or oversight is required.) As far as my understanding goes, the Psych NP needs a collaborative agreement with some oversight with an M.D. Obviously the big plus of the NP is that he/she can prescribe psychotropics, while the psychologist cannot. I believe one or two states have rxp for psychologists, but in those cases, I do believe M.D. collaboration is required. And to gain the rxp, the psychologist needs to go back to school beyond the doctorate for pharm training.
SarasotaRN2b
1,164 Posts
i was just curious about what the differences are between being a psych np or a psychologist. np's can prescribe meds and do psychotherapy...what more can a psychologist do vs. a np?
thanks in advance,
kris