The Structure and Authority of Hospitals

A systematic review of the psychology literature addressing hospital practice.

“…In the United States, within 10 years of the establishment of what was arguably the first American psychology clinic in 1896 (McReynolds, 1987), the profession had made initial forays into hospital-based practice with the first staff appointment most likely occurring in 1904 (Franz, 1916;Ives, 1957Ives, , 1970. At the time when psychologists first established psychology practices in hospitals, general medical hospitals were increasingly becoming treatmentfocused with mortality rates across a range of physical illnesses sharply declining (Bonecutter & Harrow, 1991). In contrast, psychiatric facilities had become crowded and custodial environments that for the most part lacked anything resembling treatment in contemporary terms (Grob, 1966).…”