Psychologists' membership on the medical staff of university teaching hospitals

Senior psychologists on the faculties of the 115 US schools of medicine were surveyed to ascertain whether or not they were full voting members of the medical staff of their university hospital. Results indicate that despite the fact that some of these teaching hospitals had dropped psychologists from full membership on the medical staff following the recent rounds of hospital reaccreditation site visits by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH), 6 of these hospitals had recently amended their bylaws to include qualified psychologists as full voting members. A review of the JCAH accreditation policies reveals that the medical staff of a hospital had more discretion in this area than previously may have been apparent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).