Mental status tests Health Article

Definition

Mental status tests are used to determine whether a disease or condition is affecting a person's thinking abilities, and whether a person's mental condition is improving or getting worse.

Alternative Names

Memory; Word comprehension; Orientation; Attention span; Cognitive tests

How the test is performed

The following tests may be performed:

APPEARANCE

The health care provider will check the person's physical appearance, including:

• Age
• Dress
• General level of comfort
• Gender
• Grooming
• Height/weight

ORIENTATION

The health care provider will ask questions that may include:

• The person's name, age, and job
• The place where the person lives, type of building, city, and state
• The time, date, and season

ATTENTION SPAN

The provider will test the person's ability to finish a thought, either through conversation, or by asking the person to follow a series of directions.

RECENT MEMORY

The provider will ask questions related to recent people, places, and events in the person's life or in the world.

REMOTE MEMORY

The provider will ask about the person's childhood, school, or historical events that occurred earlier in life.

WORD COMPREHENSION

The provider will point to everyday items in the room and ask the person to name them.

JUDGMENT

To test the person's judgment and ability to solve a problem or situation, the provider might ask questions such as:

• "If you found a driver's license on the ground, what would you do?"
• "If a police officer approached you from behind in a car with lights flashing, what would you do?"

How to prepare for the test

No preparation is necessary for these tests. All responses should be natural, spontaneous, and honest.

Preparation, especially by a highly intelligent person, could change the results of the test by making it seem that mental function has not declined when it actually has.

How the test will feel

There is no physical discomfort.

Normal Values

• Orientation to person, place, and time
• Normal attention span
• Normal judgment
• Normal recent memory
• Normal remote memory
• Normal word comprehension, reading, and writing