Chapter 5 Mental Status Exam Flashcards
Organic
delirium; dementia; drug intoxication; drug withdrawal
Has a specific etiology
Psychiatric
anxiety disorder; schizophrenia
no known etiology
To assess mental status, assess the following variables:
a) Consciousness
b) Language
c) Mood and affect
d) Orientation
e) Attention
f) Memory
g) Abstract reasoning
h) Thought process
i) Thought content
j) Perceptions
Children: DC
By age 4-5: language used as a social tool
Attention span increases from preschool to school-age
By age 12-15: using abstract thinking
Aging adult: DC
Response time slower
Needs longer to process information and respond to it
Recent memory decreases with age
Remote memory does not decrease with age
Prevalence of mental disorders in the U.S. adult:
26.2%
Main components of a mental status exam:
a) Appearance
b) Behavior
c) Cognition
d) Thought processes
- A full mental status exam should be done when:
a) Your client is anxious or depressed
b) Your client’s family voices concern
c) Your client has a brain lesion
d) Your client is aphasic
e) Your client has symptoms of psychiatric mental illness
OD: Appearance you should note
a) posture
b) body movements
c) dress
d) grooming & hygiene
OD: Behavior you should note
a) level of consciousness
b) facial expression
c) speech
d) mood & affect
OD: Cognitive function you should note
a) orientation
b) attention span
c) recent memory
d) remote memory
e) new learning—the four unrelated word test
OD: Thought processes and perceptions
a) thought processes
b) thought content
c) perceptions
In addition you should screen for
anxiety
depression
suicidal thoughts
What factors from health history could affect YOUR interpretation of findings
any known illness or health problems
current meds with side effects
usuall educational and behvioral levels- you note the factor as the normal base line and not expect performance on the mental status exam to exceed it
response to personal history questions indicating current stress, social interactions patterns, sleep habits and drug/alcohol use
eccentric dress/makeup can occur with
schizophrenia and manic syndrome
dysphonia
abnormal volume and pitch
in what order is orientation lost
time place and rarely person
recent memory deficit occurs with
delirium, dementia, amnestic syndrom or korsakoff sundrome in chronic olcoholism
people with alzheimer dementia score what on the four word recall
zero to one
Age relating hear loss involves what frequency
high and consonants are usually high frequency
auditory and visual hallucinations occurs with
psychiatric and organic brean disease and psychedelic drugs
GAD-7
the full scale identifies probably presentations of GAD and also a severity measure in that increasing scores are associated with increasing impairment and disability.
5-mild
10-moderate
15-severe
Denver II scale
is designed to detect developmental delays in infants and preschoolers within four functions: gross motor, language, fine motor adaptive and personal social skills.
Mental status Aging adult
Follow the same ABCT guidelines as described fro younger adults with theses additional consideration
Behavior- LOC
Cognitive- orientation
new learning
supplemental mental status examination- minicog test.
