A pre-surgical psychological evaluation is standard practice before a patient undergoes certain types of surgery. These evaluations are requested by a surgeon to assess a patient’s readiness for surgery and identify additional areas where they may need support. The goal of a pre-surgical psychological evaluation is to identify an individual’s mental state, the presence and/or severity of any underlying mental health symptomatology, and identify ways to improve recovery post-surgery.
A pre-surgical psychological evaluation may be required as part of the standard of care for patients seeking the following:
Please expect a pre-surgical evaluation to last between 3-5 hours. We recommend completing this assessment in a single session, although breaks for lunch or rest are allowed. This evaluation must be completed in-person, telehealth or virtual assessments are not available. There are many different psychological tests which may be used throughout the process so it is important to bring your glasses and/or wear any hearing aids as necessary.
A typical comprehensive evaluation report takes around 8 weeks to complete, but this may vary depending on a number of factors including complexity, cooperation, and breadth of records. Once the report is completed, it will be provided to the referring source and may or may not be shared with the examinee directly. However, you will be given the opportunity to schedule a 30-minute feedback session to discuss pertinent findings and answer any questions.