The 2 main tests are the Luria Nebraska & the Hastead Reitan Battery.
Um..not really.
Very few practioners use fixed batteries of tests such as the Halstead-Reitan and Luria now days. A recent salary and practice survey conducted by Jerry Sweet in 2006 found about 7 percent of neuropsych practioners using a fixed battery such as the Halstaed or Luria-Nebraska. Flexible batteries using a wide variety of measures is by far the most common approach to the practice of clinical npsych, although pieces from the Halstead-Retain are often still used (ie., Trail Making Test, Sensory Imperception Test).
The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychologisal status (RBANS; Randolph, 1999) is probably most popular
fixed battery utilized today...and its really just a screnning measure to determine if for more testing is warranted/needed. The RBANS is a 30 minute screening measure that is perfect for using in inpatient psych units, where conditions are not ideal for extensive testing and with who pts cant tolerate alot of testing.
I always think its funny that Alex Luria's tests were turned into a "fixed battery" when he was so adamatly against the psychometrically hardlined fixed battery approach. He was very much on the process and behavioral neurology side of neuropsych. The fact that his tests were put into a standardized fixed battery with some of the norms based on linear regression models must have him rolling over in his grave....
PS: In regards to the case you were discussing, maybe the attending wanted to rule-out a dementia that he thought was superimposed on top of the psychosis. In other words, maybe he just wanted to make sure that the cognitive deficits in the pt were consitent with what would be expected in schizophrenia and not something more marked/severe that would suggest the presence of a degenerative dementia in addition to the schiz. Coversely, sometimes it is nice to be able to know (and objectively quantify) the persons cogintive stregths and weakness for treatment planning purposes (ie., can they remember to take their meds?, are they a good candidate for traditonal psychotherapy?, are they competent, do they have the appopriate judegment and cogntive skills to remain independent or would asssited living or a more stuctured living enviorment be optimal?