disorder of cognitive function
Last reviewed 01/2018
The cognitive state of the patient is assessed under the following categories:
- orientation:
- time e.g. time of day, day of week, season of year
- place e.g. "Where are you?"
- person e.g. "What is your name?"
- concentration:
- serial 7's - the patient is asked to repeatedly subtract 7 starting with 100
- list the months of the year in reverse order
- memory:
- short-term:
- ask the patient to repeat a list of digits
- new information:
- give the patient an address to remember
- ask them to repeat it immediately
- ask them to repeat it after 3 min of conversation
- recent events:
- ask about recent events which are known to you with certainty
- remote events:
- ask about dates of wars, Prime Ministers etc.
The mini-mental state examination is a good method for assessing the cognitive function, with particular relevance to old-age psychiatry.