Hospital Privileges for Psychologists in the Era of Competencies and Increased Accountability

After campaigning to be granted hospital privileges decades ago, new issues are emerging that are affecting psychologists’ hospital privileges. Some of the forces shaping hospital privileges emanate from within the field of psychology, where there has been a movement to more closely examine psychologists’ competences. Other forces impinging on hospital privileges are external to psychology, most notably the Joint Commission, which has promulgated new standards for hospital-based practitioners across disciplines. This article discusses the effects of these new standards on the practice of psychology and describes the findings of a survey examining how privileges are currently obtained and maintained within hospitals.     

Organizations Behaving Badly: Antecedents and Consequences of Uncivil Workplace Environments

The present study investigated the relationship between employees’ perceptions of five characteristics emphasized in their work organization (i.e., individualism, hostile interaction styles, competition, hierarchical governance, and email reliance) and the occurrence of incivility in that context. We also examined how perceptions of uncivil environments, in turn, related to personal experiences of workplace incivility and negative outcomes for targets. The proposed model was examined in two samples of university faculty. Study 1 tested the model with three organizational characteristics (individualism, hostile interaction styles, and competition) and three outcomes (job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and physical health) in a sample of faculty from a wide range of departments at a large Southern university. The second study investigated two additional organizational characteristics (hierarchical governance and email reliance) and an additional outcome (psychological distress) in a nationwide sample of law faculty. Results demonstrated that all but one of the characteristics (email reliance) related to perceptions of an uncivil workplace environment; uncivil environment perceptions, in turn, predicted personal experiences of incivility and negative occupational and health outcomes.     

Trajectories of externalizing behavior from age 2 to age 9: relations with gender, temperament, ethnicity, parenting, and rater

Trajectories of children's externalizing behavior were examined using multilevel growth curve modeling of data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. According to ratings by both mothers and caregivers/teachers when children were 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9 years old, externalizing behavior declined with age. However, mothers rated children as higher in externalizing behavior than did caregivers and teachers. Higher levels of age 9 externalizing behavior were predicted by the following factors: child male gender (for caregiver/teacher reports only), infant difficult temperament (for children with harsh mothers only), harsher maternal attitude toward discipline, higher level of maternal depression (for maternal reports only), and lower level of maternal sensitivity (especially for boys). Caregivers and teachers reported higher levels of externalizing behavior in African American children than in European American children, increasingly so over time; mothers' ratings revealed the reverse. The declining slope of externalizing behavior was predicted by infant difficult temperament for mother reports only. Additional analyses suggested that the association between parenting and externalizing behavior was bidirectional.     

Motivation to manage among women: Studies of business managers and educational administrators

Studies were undertaken in a department store and in four school districts to determine if managerial motivation is related to management success indexes and whether female managers have less managerial motivation than males. The measure of managerial motivation used was the Miner Sentence Completion Scale. Managerial motivation did prove to be significantly related to the success of female managers, but no consistent differences in the managerial motivation of male and female managers were found. The results are interpreted in terms of their implications for the vocational guidance of females and for research in the area of managerial talent supplies.     

Rationale and considerations for proposed near-death research in the hospital setting

Further research into the question of veridical perception during the naturalistic near-death out-of-body experience (nND OBE), that phase of the near-death experience in which the experiencer seems to be perceiving a normal earthly realm, would be of value to NDErs, their caregivers, and humanity in general. I propose a research procedure that targets visual perception during nND OBEs that occur in the hospital setting. I discuss unresolved issues in the design and implementation of such a procedure, and identify areas for further research.     

Near-death veridicality research in the hospital setting: Problems and promise

We attempted to conduct near-death veridicality research in the hospital setting, the rationale for which (we presented previously (Holden, 1988).) This paper describes problems, both anticipated and unanticipated, that we encountered. Based on the successes and failures of this undertaking, we present recommendations for future research of this type.At the time of this study, Dr. Holden was a candidate for the Ed.D. degree at the Northern Illinois University Graduate SchoolThis study was funded in part by a Dissertation Completion Award granted to Dr. Holden by the Northern Illinois University Graduate School. The authors also express gratitude to Robert Stromberg, Chaplain of the Lutheran General Hospital CCU at the time of this study, for his assistance in this research.     

Response to “Exploring the Religious-Spiritual Needs of the Dying”

This commentary compares Smith's work to classic value clarification, addresses issues of counselor judgement and informed consent, and outlines further exercises based on near-death experiences.     

Board Certification in Psychology: Insights from Medicine and Hospital Psychology

For physicians board certification is an accepted tradition that research suggests improves services and outcomes. In contrast, relatively few psychologists pursue board certification suggesting ambivalence or limited contingencies reinforcing it. The authors report on medical school and hospital-based psychologists’ attitudes toward board certification and current certification status. About one-fifth (21.7%) of the sample were certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology, a greater proportion than psychologists generally: Highest rates were seen in neuropsychology (7.5%), clinical psychology (6.4%), clinical child and adolescent psychology (3.2%) and clinical health psychology (2.8%). Few (<2%) reported their hospitals required board certification. Half recognized benefits to the profession for psychologists pursuing board certification, yet 70% opposed requiring it for their hospital-based practice. Forces seeking to promote healthcare quality ultimately may increase expectations for board certification. If consumers, employers, hospitals and managed care organizations demand board certification for health professionals, greater numbers of psychologists would likely seek it.