Abstract
A brief mental status questionnaire adapted specifically to diagnose diffuse organic mental syndromes on busy medical wards is developed and tested for reliability and validity. When the 30 item questionnaire was given to 17 medical patients diagnosed by consultation psychiatrists as having a diffuse organic mental syndrome, all scored 20 or less. With hospitalized psychiatric patients the questionnaire was able to differentiate between the 'functional psychoses' and diffuse organic brain syndromes. When administered to 69 consecutive medical admissions, fully one third showed marked cognitive imitations. A sample of normals suggested that results may be contaminated by severe cultural or educational variances. We discuss the role of cognitive deficiencies in medical patients, and suggestions are made regarding the broad usefulness of this questionnaire to a medical service.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 40-46 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Annals of Internal Medicine |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1977 |
| Externally published | Yes |