Presurgical Psychological Screening: Understanding Patients, Improving Outcomes

This book presents presurgical psychological screening procedures for a wide range of surgery types, as well as techniques for communicating results to patients and possible pre- or postsurgery interventions to mitigate risk factors. Surgery patients’ emotional and psychosocial concerns, health-related behaviors, outcome expectations, and compliance with the treatment regimen can all influence the ultimate effectiveness of surgery. Mental health professionals are increasingly called upon to perform presurgical psychological screening (PPS) to ensure that patients are given the treatments most likely to be effective, while reducing the chances of worsening their conditions. The authors explain how to conduct PPS, communicate results, and identify possible pre- or postsurgery interventions to mitigate risk factors.