Mental Status and Neurologic

Question 1

Glasgow coma scale

Answer 1

used to quantify level of consciousness after an acute brain injury or medical condition

Question 2

cognition

Answer 2

execution of complex mental processes (learning, perceiving, decision making and memory)
- several screening tests available

Question 3

aphasia

Answer 3

speech disorder that can be receptive (understanding language) or expressive (speaking language); may be indicated by a number of the characteristics; impairment in language function; shown by missing letters, etc.

Question 4

apraxia

Answer 4

inability to translate an intention or action unrelated to paralysis or lack of understanding (e.g. button shirt)

Question 5

dysphonia

Answer 5

disorder of voice volume, quality (harsh, nasal, breathy, or pitch (monotony or loudness)

Question 6

dysarthria

Answer 6

motor speech disorder; associated with conditions of the nervous system (stroke, inebriation, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson’s disease)

Question 7

circumlocution

Answer 7

pantomime or word substitution to avoid forgotten word

Question 8

perseveration

Answer 8

repetition of work, phrase, or gesture

Question 9

flight of ideas / use of loose associations

Answer 9

disordered words or sentences

Question 10

word salad

Answer 10

meaningless disconnected word choice

Question 11

neologisms

Answer 11

made up words

Question 12

clang associations

Answer 12

word choice based on sound so works rhyme nonsensically

Question 13

echolalia

Answer 13

repetition of another person’s words

Question 14

utterances

Answer 14

unusual sounds

Question 15

tactile agnosia

Answer 15

inability to recognize objects by touch; suggests parietal lobe lesion (keys, etc.)

Question 16

graphesthesia

Answer 16

use blunt pen or stick to draw a letter or number on palm of patient’s hand

Question 17

Babinski sign

Answer 17

Plantar reflex = unexpected finding
present when there is dorsi flexion of great toe with or without fanning of other toes
• Indicated pyramidal tract disease in patients
• Normal finding for children under 2

Question 18

anosia

Answer 18

loss of sense of smell or inability to discriminate odors; caused by trauma to cribriform plate or olfactory tract lesion

Question 19

stereognosis

Answer 19

with eyes closed, hand patient familiar object to identify (e.g. key); tests cortical sensory function

Question 20

expressive aphasia

Answer 20

difficulty with expression nit able to understand

- able to read, use a lot of effort to speak, and are of present environment

Question 21

receptive aphasia

Answer 21

can speak but use inappropriate words and do not respond to their environment

Question 22

Montgomery tubercles

Answer 22

tiny, sebaceous glands visible on areola; normal finding