Practice Patterns of U.S. Army Medical Department Psychiatrists and Psychologists
Abstract
The present study is an evaluation of psychiatrist and psychologist patient care services from the Army's Ambulatory Care Data Base. The data from the present study did not reveal any evidence that psychiatrists performed patient care or medical services in any manner different from psychologists, with the exception that they prescribed medication. Psychologists were found (a) to spend more time with patients, (b) to provide a wider variety of patient care services, (c) to treat more patients with concurrent medical disorders, (d) to perform nearly all psychological testing evaluations, and (e) to be the sole medical professionals performing biofeedback and behavioral assessment. Both provider groups treated all of the same patient diagnostic categories, with some variation in patient diagnostic frequency, and neither group utilized ancillary medical procedures to any significant extent in its evaluation and management of patients. This data revealed that psychologists' are the almost exclusive providers of psychological testing evaluation, which is a work intensive, lengthy, and complex diagnostic process. Three significant variations were found: (a) time spent in evaluation, depended upon the type of assessment performed (e.g., personality, intellectual, neuropsychological, or a combination thereof ; (b) the amount of direct provider time required by psychologists, which depended upon three factors--the complexity of the case, the type of assessment undertaken, and whether a psychological assistant was utilized; (c) the frequency with which types of evaluations were performed, with personality assessments accounting for almost one-half half of all psychological testing evaluations; and (d) the average number of visit days involved in an assessment, which, again, varied with the complexity of the evaluation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA274787
Entities
People
- James M. Georgoulakis
- Nancy K. Willcockson