Pre-Surgical Spinal Stimulator Evaluation FAQ

My role is to not prevent anyone from obtaining a procedure that may reduce their pain. My role is to assess for known psychological factors that would reduce the effectiveness of or interfere with this procedure.

We will schedule a clinical interview and then ask you to complete several tests. During the interview, I will ask about your psychological, medical, and developmental history, and inquire about your pain, medications, and treatment history. The tests are self-report with some tests completed on a computer and others completed with paper and pencil.

Not at all. My goal is to make sure you get the best surgical outcome from this procedure by identifying any psychological factors that could interfere. These tests are an efficient and empirically-supported method to identify those factors.

I do not have the decision making power to determine if someone can get this procedure or not, because ultimately that decisions rests with their surgeon. My role is to determine one’s prognosis for surgery and inform the referring physician or surgeon of this prognosis. The referring physician or surgeon uses this information to help them determine if their patient is able to have the procedure. I utilize an empirically-supported algorithm from the testing battery to determine one’s prognosis for this procedure.

Bring an ID and insurance card. It is helpful to bring a list of current medications with dosages. I also encourage bringing a beverage and snack.