The Mental Status Examination Handbook E-Book

Book excerpt: The ability to effectively assess cognitive and other behavioral functions is an essential skill for neurologists, psychiatrists, geriatricians, nurses, and other clinicians who perform clinic and bedside examinations. Unique in the field, The Mental Status Examination Handbook is a user-friendly, comprehensive resource that provides practical guidance on cognitive assessment, clarifies mental status testing procedures, and assists with decision making for neuropsychological referrals. This detailed manual draws from the full history of behavioral neurology testing, making the complex and challenging area of cognitive assessment accessible for both students and practitioners. - Offers guidance on how to choose and perform a large number of mental status tests, with information on selected test materials and normative values. - Covers the bedside evaluation of arousal, attention, memory, language, perception, executive abilities, and other cognitive and behavioral areas. - Provides an authoritative assessment and compendium of commonly used mental status scales, inventories and questionnaires. - Describes relevant correlations with formal neuropsychological testing, neuroimaging, and neuropsychiatric disease. - Explains how to weigh, use, and understand mental status scales and neuropsychological instruments. - Discusses the meaning of cognitive symptoms and signs, and their neuroanatomical and neuropathological correlations.