Objective:
Inpatient neuropsychological screening represents a promising direction for addressing consultation questions directed to pediatric psychiatry consultation/liaison (C/L) providers. Despite the potential of such a service, few studies have directly examined the role of targeted neuropsychological screening on a pediatric psychiatry C/L team. Thus, the primary goals of this paper were to explore the feasibility and utility of brief neuropsychological assessment in the context of a C/L service.
Method:
We review the literature related to neuropsychological consultation in pediatric medical settings. We provide a clinical case example to illustrate our experience incorporating targeted neuropsychological screening on our pediatric psychiatry C/L service.
Results:
Targeted screening as part of a psychiatry consultation service has the potential to be informative in patient care. Several existing preventive pediatric care models that include brief assessment are already being used in other pediatric medical settings.
Conclusions:
Inpatient neuropsychological screening can play a role in integrated care teams when both its strengths and limitations are understood. The incorporation of brief neuropsychological assessment into clinical practice within C/L services represents an important and potentially impactful future direction in both research and clinical care.
Implications for Impact Statement
Neuropsychological screening as part of a psychiatry consultation service has the potential to be informative for patient care. There are many existing preventive pediatric care models that include brief assessment in other medical settings. This paper reviews the relevant literature and provides a clinical case example to illustrate this.
