Who Does Cognitive Evaluations?

A cognitive evaluation is an assessment of cognitive and intellectual functioning that is generally carried out by educators, medical practitioners, therapists or psychologists. The evaluation is intended to assist in understanding the presenting problems and capacities and weaknesses of the client and to aid in the formulation of a diagnosis and treatment plan.

Physicians

• Physicians conduct brief clinical cognitive evaluations to assess for cognitive problems that may indicate underlying medical issues. Physicians commonly assess for level of consciousness, dementia, attentional problems, memory, orientation to person, place and time, and capacity to adhere to medical recommendations.

Nurses

• Medical, psychiatric and geriatric nurses perform brief clinical cognitive evaluations similar in content and for much the same purposes as physicians. Nurses tend to have a more practical focus, evaluating how cognitive dysfunctions may affect daily living skills and self-care capacity.

Psychiatrists

• Psychiatrists are medical doctors who have additional training in psychiatric assessment and treatment. They perform clinical cognitive evaluations to assess for underlying medical disorders and to assess for overall mental status, thought disorders, attentional processes, impulse control, memory dysfunction and capacity for insight and self-care. They obtain clinical information about cognitive functioning to clarify psychiatric status and to determine which of competing diagnoses are most accurate.

Neurologists

• Neurologists have more complex, refined means available to assess cognitive functioning, and are usually involved in assessment because of identified cognitive or neurological deficits. They employ more extensive clinical tests of cognitive functioning, and also use MRIs, CTs, electromyelography (EMG) and electroencephalograms (EEGs) to identify abnormalities in neurological and cognitive functioning.

Educators

• Teachers, school counselors and educational psychologists perform assessments of intellectual and cognitive functioning for the purpose of developing educational plans for students. Educators reserve special assessments for exceptional children--children who may be gifted or who may have learning disabilities.

Psychologists

• Psychologists employ an extensive array of tests, surveys, questionnaires and clinical evaluation tools to obtain detailed assessment of intellectual and cognitive functioning. Psychologists and psychiatrists overlap in some clinical assessment strategies, but psychologists specialize in the development, administration and interpretation of standardized psychometric tests. Physicians, psychiatrists, neurologists and educators will refer patients to psychologists in order to obtain in-depth, detailed, comprehensive, normed and standardized evaluations of cognitive and intellectual functioning.