Presurgical Psychological Screening

Book excerpt: The success of many surgical procedures depends not only on the skill of the surgeon and the use of state-of-the-art technology, but also on the actions and characteristics of the patient. Patients' emotional and psychosocial concerns, health-related behaviours, outcome expectations, and compliance with treatment regimen can all strongly influence the ultimate effectiveness of surgery. Thus, 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. This book presents PPS procedures for a wide range of surgery types, such as spinal surgery, organ transplantation, bariatric surgery, and plastic surgery. Drawing on both research and clinical experience, the authors explain how to conduct PPS, communicate results to patients and surgeons, and identify possible pre- or post-surgery interventions to mitigate risk factors and maximise the likelihood of surgical success. Case studies and a discussion of bioethics are included