The mental status examination (MSE) is an important part of the clinical assessment process in neurological and psychiatric practice. It is a structured way of observing and describing a patient's psychological functioning at a given point in time, under the domains of appearance, attitude, behavior, mood and affect, speech, thought process, thought content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgment.[1] There are some minor variations in the subdivision of the MSE and the sequence and names of MSE domains.
The purpose of the MSE is to obtain a comprehensive cross-sectional description of the patient's mental state, which, when combined with the biographical and historical information of the psychiatric history, allows the clinician to make an accurate diagnosis and formulation, which are required for coherent treatment planning.
The Psychiatric Mental Status Examination Paula Trzepacz.pdf
The mental status examination is a core skill of qualified (mental) health personnel. It is a key part of the initial psychiatric assessment in an outpatient or psychiatric hospital setting.It is a systematic collection of data based on observation of the patient's behavior while the patient is in the clinician's view during the interview. The purpose is to obtain evidence of symptoms and signs of mental disorders, including danger to self and others, that are present at the time of the interview. Further, information on the patient's insight, judgment, and capacity for abstract reasoning is used to inform decisions about treatment strategy and the choice of an appropriate treatment setting.[8]It is carried out in the manner of an informal enquiry, using a combination of open and closed questions, supplemented by structured tests to assess cognition.[9] The MSE can also be considered part of the comprehensive physical examination performed by physicians and nurses although it may be performed in a cursory and abbreviated way in non-mental-health settings.[10] Information is usually recorded as free-form text using the standard headings,[11] but brief MSE checklists are available for use in emergency situations, for example, by paramedics or emergency department staff.[12][13]The information obtained in the MSE is used, together with the biographical and social information of the psychiatric history, to generate a diagnosis, a psychiatric formulation and a treatment plan.
The patient's speech is assessed by observing the patient's spontaneous speech, and also by using structured tests of specific language functions.This heading is concerned with the production of speech rather than the content of speech, which is addressed under thought process and thought content (see below).When observing the patient's spontaneous speech, the interviewer will note and comment on paralinguistic features such as the loudness, rhythm, prosody, intonation, pitch, phonation, articulation, quantity, rate, spontaneity and latency of speech. Many acoustic features have been shown to be significantly altered in mental health disorders.[30]A structured assessment of speech includes an assessment of expressive language by asking the patient to name objects, repeat short sentences, or produce as many words as possible from a certain category in a set time. Simple language tests form part of the mini-mental state examination. In practice, the structured assessment of receptive and expressive language is often reported under Cognition (see below).[31]
Attention and concentration are assessed by several tests, commonly serial sevens test subtracting 7 from 100 and subtracting 7 from the difference 5 times. Alternatively: spelling a five-letter word backwards, saying the months or days of the week in reverse order, serial threes (subtract three from twenty five times), and by testing digit span. Memory is assessed in terms of immediate registration (repeating a set of words), short-term memory (recalling the set of words after an interval, or recalling a short paragraph), and long-term memory (recollection of well known historical or geographical facts). Visuospatial functioning can be assessed by the ability to copy a diagram, draw a clock face, or draw a map of the consulting room. Language is assessed through the ability to name objects, repeat phrases, and by observing the individual's spontaneous speech and response to instructions. Executive functioning can be screened for by asking the "similarities" questions ("what do x and y have in common?") and by means of a verbal fluency task (e.g. "list as many words as you can starting with the letter F, in one minute"). The mini-mental state examination is a simple structured cognitive assessment which is in widespread use as a component of the MSE.
The MSE may include a brief neuropsychiatric examination in some situations. Frontal lobe pathology is suggested if the person cannot repetitively execute a motor sequence (e.g. "paper-scissors-rock").The posterior columns are assessed by the person's ability to feel the vibrations of a tuning fork on the wrists and ankles.The parietal lobe can be assessed by the person's ability to identify objects by touch alone and with eyes closed.A cerebellar disorder may be present if the person cannot stand with arms extended, feet touching and eyes closed without swaying (Romberg's sign); if there is a tremor when the person reaches for an object; or if he or she is unable to touch a fixed point, close the eyes and touch the same point again.Pathology in the basal ganglia may be indicated by rigidity and resistance to movement of the limbs, and by the presence of characteristic involuntary movements.A lesion in the posterior fossa can be detected by asking the patient to roll his or her eyes upwards (Parinaud's syndrome).Focal neurological signs such as these might reflect the effects of some prescribed psychiatric medications, chronic drug or alcohol use, head injuries, tumors or other brain disorders.[48][49][50][51][52]
The Pass the CASC book (2012,2018) by Dr Seshni Moodliar for the CASC clinical exam for psychiatrists for their final Mrcpsych exam. It teaches psychiatrists how do perform a mental status examination.
The core psychiatric interview skills book by Dr Seshni Moodliar (2014) is a communication skills book to assist doctors, nurses, social workers and psychologists to undertake mental status examinations and identify the symptoms and signs of mental illness .
Methods: Patients 65 yr or older undergoing elective knee arthroplasty were prospectively evaluated for postoperative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV delirium. Exclusion criteria included dementia, mini-mental state exam score less than 24, delirium, clinically significant central nervous system/neurologic disorder, current alcoholism, or any serious psychiatric disorder. Delirium was assessed on postoperative days 2 and 3 using standardized scales. Patients' preexisting medical conditions were obtained from medical charts. The occurrence of obstructive sleep apnea was confirmed by contacting patients to check their polysomnography records. Data were analyzed using Pearson chi-square or Wilcoxon rank sum tests and multiple logistic regressions adjusted for effects of covariates.
CCI-SF, Charlson Comorbidity index, short form; CA, cluster analysis; CI, confidence interval; DRS-R98, delirium rating scale-revised-98; DSM, diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders; ICD, international classification of diseases; K, kappa index; MMSE, minimental state examination; S-IQCODE, spanish-informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderly; SD, standard deviation; SE, standard error. 2ff7e9595c
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