Assessment Flashcards
Purpose of the Neurological Examination
- Determine whether nervous system dysfunction is present
- Diagnose disease of the nervous system
- Localize disease within the nervous system
Major components of the Neurological Examination
- LOC
- Mental Status
- Cognitive Function
- Muscle tone, bulk, strenghth
- Senory function
- Cordination
- Reflexes
Questions for the Neurological Cheif Complaint
- Change in intellect
- Onset of memory defecit
- Difficulty of concentration
- Personality change
- Depression
- Loss of drive
- Headache
- Seizure
- Dizziness
- Vertigo
- Diplopia
- Tinnitus
- Incordination
- Weakness
- Pareshtesia
- Speech Difficulty
- Dysphagia
- Bladder, bowel, or sexual dysfunction
- Sleep Difficulties
MSE: General impression of awareness and mental function
- Level of Alertness
- General Appearance and Behaivor
- Mood and emotional state
- General Thinking Process
- Content of Thought
MSE: Reception and interpretation of sensory stimuli
- Orientation
- Personal ID
- Attention
- Comprehension
MSE: Higher-Level cognitive function
- Memory
- Calculations
- General fund of information
- Abstract thinking, reasoning, and judgement
- Language and speech
- Constructional ability
- Motor intergrative function
Mood and Emotional State
Abnormal responses include hostility, evasiveness, anger, tearfulness, and depression
Screen for depression if suspected
General Appearance and Behaivor
- Attire
- Hygiene
- Posture/Movement
- Facial Expression
- Affect and Manner
Thinking Process
- Thought process
- Thought content
- Perception
- Speech
Abnormal Thought Processes
Name 3
- Circumstantiality
- Derailment
- Flight of Ideas
- Neologisms
- Incoherence
- Blocking
- Confabulation
- Perservation
- Echolalia
- Clanging
What is dysarthria?
Disorder of language articulation
Orientation
- Time
- Place
- Person
Reception and Interuption of Sensory Stimuli
- Orientation
- Personal ID
- Attention
- Concentration
- Comprehension
Personal ID
Name
Address
Background information
Attention
Ability to focus on a single sensory stimulus
Concentration
Sustained focus on a sensory stimulus
Attention and Concentration Assessment
- Number Series
- Spelling Backward
Comprehension
The ability to understand the meaning of visual, auditory, and other stimuli
Higher-Level Cognitive Functions
- Memory
- Calculations
- General Fund of Information
- Abstract thinking, reasoning, and judgement
- Language and Speech
- Constructional ability
- Motor intergrative function
Memory
Ability to register, store, and retrieve information
How is memory commited?
Through registration, storage, and retireval of information
Memory is subdivided intp what groups?
- Immediate
- Short-Term
- Long-Term
Immmediate Memory testing
Choose 3 unrelated words for the patient to recite immediately
Short-term memory testing
Ask the patient to retrieve the same 3 words from immediate memory testing 5 minutes later
Long-Term Memory testing
When is your date of birth?
Where is your place of birth?
Where di you go to school?
Wheen did you attend school?
Where is your school located?
What do you do for work?
Where do you work?
How long have you worked there?
What is your spouses name?
What is your childrens name?
How old are they?
Whats your mothers maiden name?
Name 3 different types of amnesia
- Retrograde Amnesia
- Antegrade Amnesia
- Psychogenic Amnesia
General Fund of Information testing
Ask the patient to retireve information related to their location and area of expertise
Abstract Thinking testing
Ask the patient to interpret a sentence like “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones”
Similarities testing
Ask the patient to find similarities between two words
Reasoning testing
Define differences between combinations “mistake” vs “lie” and “sadness” vs “hopelessness”
Judgement
Opinion or evaluation of something
Insight
Ability to see the inner nature of things
Judgement and Insight testing
“What brings you in today?”
Aphasia
Disorder of processing language
Apraxia
Disorder of motor programming of language symbols
Classifications of Aphasia
Brocas Aphasia
Wernickes Aphasia
Global Aphasia
Conduction Aphasia
Anomic Aphasia
Brocas Aphasia
Unable to convert thoughts into meaningful language
Normal reception of language is intact
Wernickes Aphasia
Fluent unintelligble speech due to impaired pronounciation
Impaired comprehension of language
Constructional Ability testing
Ask the patient to draw a figure on command
CN 1 Assessment
Stimuli?
Olfactory Nerve
Have the patient smell a common odor
Sensory
Components of the Ophthalmoscope Exam
- Optic Disc
- Macula Lutea
- Fovea
- Diameter of arteries and veins
CN II Assessment
Stimuli?
Optic Nerve
Visual Acuity, Visual Fields, Ophthalmoscopic Exam
Senosory