EVALUATION OF AN EFFICIENT METHOD FOR VERIFYING HIGHER EDUCATIONAL CREDENTIALS

Neuropsychologists do not routinely verify patient's self-reported edu cational information. The present investigation attempted to validate a procedure for verifying educational credentials by phone. Of the 50 subjects representing 38 colleges that participated in this study, the attainment of baccalaureate degrees of only 6% could not be immediate ly verified by phone. All 19 schools given fictitious information repo rted they had no record of the fictitious students attendance. The res ults of this study suggest that telephoning is an efficient method for verifying higher educational credentials. The authors recommend routi ne screening of patients whose academic credentials are questionable.