INS NYC 2024 Program

Custom Content	Poster Session 05 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 02:30 pm - 03:45 pm Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry \| Addiction/Dependence \| Stress/Coping \| Emotional/Social Processes Final Abstract #5 Poster Symposium: Neuropsychology and Functional Neurological Disorders: An Evaluation of Practice Through Clinical Case Studies and Historical Analysis — Abstract 4 The Practicality and Complexity of Psychological Ethical Decision-Making Models in the Context of Functional Neurological Disorders Kathleen Liming, Mercer University, Doraville, United States Category: Medical/Neurological Disorders/Other (Adult) Keyword 1: decision-making Objective: Given the historical, theoretical, and clinical complexity surrounding functional neurological disorder, ethical diagnostic decision-making models are a valuable tool in clinical practice; however, ethical decision-making models used in clinical psychology are increasingly less compatible with the culture and dynamics found in university hospitals, academic medical centers, and other large treatment facilities (i.e., billing restrictions, institution-imposed time constraints, etc.), wherein roughly 55 percent of neuropsychologists are employed (Sweet et al., 2021). The current project aims to evaluate the limitations of ethical decision-making models related to FND diagnoses in such settings, further working to explore and suggest alternate methods of practice. Conclusions: From a cognitive perspective, humans tend to overestimate their performance—neuropsychologists fall prey to similar misconceptions; we perceive our competence as higher than actual performance due to errors in self-evaluation and environmental factors (Redelmeier et al. 2001). When considering the complicated social, clinical, and ethical implications of FND diagnoses, it becomes increasingly important to reduce clinician error and bias through practicing with intentional, structured, and empirically supported models to guide ethical decision making. Popular ethical decision-making models used may not be congruent with the environmental stipulations many neuropsychologists find themselves practicing alongside. Utilizing strategies such as brief consultation, person-centered documentation, and incorporating a structured decision-making model with all patients, regardless of suspected etiology, may be more practical strategies, even in fast-paced settings (APAIT, 2020). From an ethical perspective that emphasizes awareness of systems-level biases, Neuropsychologists should exercise caution when diagnosing FND (i.e., it may be more appropriate to view FND as a “rule-in” rather than a “rule-out”). Establishing these standards of practice may aid in diagnostic decision-making more firmly grounded in the ethical principles accepted by the field of psychology at large, as opposed to modifying such practice to a biomedical model of care.

Custom Content

02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes

Final Abstract #5

Poster Symposium: Neuropsychology and Functional Neurological Disorders: An Evaluation of Practice Through Clinical Case Studies and Historical Analysis — Abstract 4

The Practicality and Complexity of Psychological Ethical Decision-Making Models in the Context of Functional Neurological Disorders

Kathleen Liming, Mercer University, Doraville, United States

Category: Medical/Neurological Disorders/Other (Adult)

Keyword 1: decision-making

Objective:

Given the historical, theoretical, and clinical complexity surrounding functional neurological disorder, ethical diagnostic decision-making models are a valuable tool in clinical practice; however, ethical decision-making models used in clinical psychology are increasingly less compatible with the culture and dynamics found in university hospitals, academic medical centers, and other large treatment facilities (i.e., billing restrictions, institution-imposed time constraints, etc.), wherein roughly 55 percent of neuropsychologists are employed (Sweet et al., 2021). The current project aims to evaluate the limitations of ethical decision-making models related to FND diagnoses in such settings, further working to explore and suggest alternate methods of practice.

Conclusions:

From a cognitive perspective, humans tend to overestimate their performance—neuropsychologists fall prey to similar misconceptions; we perceive our competence as higher than actual performance due to errors in self-evaluation and environmental factors (Redelmeier et al. 2001). When considering the complicated social, clinical, and ethical implications of FND diagnoses, it becomes increasingly important to reduce clinician error and bias through practicing with intentional, structured, and empirically supported models to guide ethical decision making. Popular ethical decision-making models used may not be congruent with the environmental stipulations many neuropsychologists find themselves practicing alongside. Utilizing strategies such as brief consultation, person-centered documentation, and incorporating a structured decision-making model with all patients, regardless of suspected etiology, may be more practical strategies, even in fast-paced settings (APAIT, 2020). From an ethical perspective that emphasizes awareness of systems-level biases, Neuropsychologists should exercise caution when diagnosing FND (i.e., it may be more appropriate to view FND as a “rule-in” rather than a “rule-out”). Establishing these standards of practice may aid in diagnostic decision-making more firmly grounded in the ethical principles accepted by the field of psychology at large, as opposed to modifying such practice to a biomedical model of care.