X Neuro: Mrs Si (Burke) Flashcards
Assessing Mental Status
- Orientation (person, place, time, event)
- Mood/Behavior
- General knowledge
- ST/LT memory
- attention span/ability to focus
Assessment: Orientation
-person, place, time, event/purpose
A+Ox3 w understanding of event, or document pt doesn’t know whey they are here if they are A+O all three except event.
Adequate cerebral functioning is determined by ..
assessing mental status
Ability to show orientation depends on
memory and attention
Orientation Questions
- Person: What is your name?
- Place: Can you tell me the name of this facility? What town? (DON’T ask pt Do you know where you are? Insults them)
- Time: What year is it? What month? Who is president? (understand time frame)
- Purpose/Event: What brought you here?
Mood/Behavior: Mood
-How does pt feel? person has their own perception of how they feel. Opinion. They may look happy but not be.
Mood/Behavior: Behaviour
Cooperative? Agitated? Pleasant?
-be objective not subjective. i.e. if you document it, make sure you have proof to back it up.
General Knowledge Assessment Question
- Who’s the president of USA?
- What major holiday is in Nov?
- What was last big storm?
- What wars are we involved in recently?
Test for short term memory
- list 3 objects
- ask pt to repeat them
- check recall in 5 min
Test for Long Term memory
- job history
- where born/raised
- family hx, brothers, sisters?
Do demented pts have short term mem?
no
-talk about past to make them comfortable
Attn Span and Ability to Focus
ability to focus or concentrate over time on 1 task or activity.
-if inattentive, pt has hard time providing their med hx
LOC (Level of Consciousness)
- indicator of brain fx
- earliest sign of changes in MS
What are the 2 components of LOC
- Arousal (wakefulness)
- Awareness
LOC’s
ACLOSC
- alert
- confused
- lethargic
- obtunded (alertness w slow psycho motor response)
- stuporous (sleep like state, not coma, little or no spontaneous activity. only responds to vigorous stimulate)
- comatose (unable to respond to any stimuli verbal/physical)
When documenting LOC, Orientation
AA+Ox3 (awake, alert, oriented x3)
i.e. lethargic, easily arousable, oriented x3
Awareness
- ability to interact w and interpret your environment.
- higher fx controlled by brain stem
Components of Awareness
- orientation
- memory
- calculation (planning, time mgmt.)
- Fund of knowledge (the historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being”)
Glasgow Coma Scale
- assess of pt’s level of responsiveness
- use for pts who have suffered head injuries
- indicates severity of coma
- predicts possible pt outcomes
Glasgow Coma Scale evaluates…
- motor
- verbal
- eye opening responses
- scale of 3-15
- 3 = coma, 15 = normal
- not to replace a neuro assessment
Glasgow Coma Scale scores
Eye Opening 4 - Spontaneous 3 - to loud voice 2 - to pain 1 - none
Verbal Response 5 - oriented 4 - confused, disoriented 3 - inappropriate words 2 - incomprehensible sounds 1 - none
Best Motor Response 6 - obeys 5 - localizes 4 - withdraws (flexion) 3 - abnormal flexion (posturing) 2 - extension posturing 1 - none
2 Types of Posturing
Decorticate: pt turning inward
Deceribrate: turning outward
Stroke (CVA, Brain Attack)
Cerebrovascular accident: sudden death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen when blood flow to brain is impaired by blockage or rupture of an artery to the brain. Symptoms of a stroke depend on the area of the brain affected.
- # 1 cause of adult disability
- 5th leading cause of death in US
- Affects all ages
- # 3 for women
- # 5 for men
- # 1 preventable cause of disability
Stroke Stats
- In US, stroke every 40sec
- 795,000 have stroke every year
- 6.8mil Americans 20yrs UP have had a stroke
- once you have a stroke, poss of 2nd very real