title: Referring physicians' perceptions of the neuropsychological evaluation: how are we doing?
abstract: Clinical neuropsychologists often serve as consultants to physicians. However, little is known about physicians' perceptions of the neuropsychological evaluation. Therefore, the present study examined the opinions of physicians who referred patients for neuropsychological evaluation. Surveys were mailed with the neuropsychological reports to 119 physicians who referred patients to an outpatient hospital-based neuropsychology practice over a 2-year period. Results showed that physicians requesting neuropsychological evaluations most commonly sought assistance with establishing and confirming a diagnosis, and they reported a high level of satisfaction with the evaluation, including strong agreement with diagnosis and recommendations. These findings did not differ based on physician specialty or patient diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Brown Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA. gtremont@lifespan.org
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tremont
authors.forename: Holly James
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Westervelt
authors.forename: Debbie J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Javorsky
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Podolanczuk
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Stern
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*