Abstract
Clinical psychologists working in the medical setting assist in intake interviews, administer clinical psychological tests, evaluate the mental state of patients, and do psychotherapy, among other functions. Therefore, the most important ability demanded of clinical psychologists working in the medical setting by physicians is concerned with the technical skills needed to conduct these functions. Moreover, clinical psychologists in the medical setting are considered to be an important member of an interdisciplinary medical team working alongside physicians and nurses. As a result, the next most important demand that is made of clinical psychologists is the ability to cooperate with the other members of the interdisciplinary medical team, in order to facilitate the smooth progress of therapy. The work of clinical psychologists in the medical setting is related to medical treatment and therefore, legally, clinical psychologists are regarded as assistants to physicians. As a result the third demand made of clinical psychologists is to acquire legal and medical knowledge needed for assisting in medical treatment. In order to achieve the above demands, it is necessary to establish a national system of licensing clinical psychologists as medical psychologist.
