Identifying data Questions
Give this one a try later!
Be direct in obtaining identifying data. Request specific answers.
Elements of Mental Status Exam and mnemonic
Give this one a try later!
Elements of the Mental Status Examination
The MSE has roughly seven components. This mnemonic will help you to
remember them:
All Borderline Subjects Are Tough, Troubled Characters:
Appearance
Behavior
Speech
, Affect
Thought process
Thought content
Cognitive examination
ABSATTC
Chief complaint (CC) topic
Give this one a try later!
Brief statement in patient's own words of why patient is in the hospital or is
being seen in consultation
Carlat, Chapter 14
Give this one a try later!
ch 14
aggravating and alleviating factors
Give this one a try later!
, Does anything make the headache feel better or worse? How does it feel
to press on the site of pain?
Infections or inflammations (as in sinusitis or temporal arteritis) usually feel
worse on direct pressure.
Tension and migraine headaches usually do not feel worse on direct
pressure and often may feel better.
Is it worse in the day or at night? Cluster headaches are severe unilateral
headaches that occur particularly at night and often are worse with alcohol
ingestion (they are also associated with a red eye).
They commonly are "clustered", with remissions and exacerbations
occurring over weeks or months.
Headaches resulting from intracranial lesions may also occur at night.
Trigeminal neuralgia attacks commonly are precipitated by chewing or
touching a particular area of the face, such as the nose or mouth.
summarizes the components of the mental status examination: Affect (including
qualities)
Give this one a try later!
, Traditional teaching distinguishes mood from affect, with mood defined as
a patient's subjective report of how he feels, and affect defined as your
own impression of his emotional state. Although many clinicians do not
make this distinction in clinical work, you should become familiar with it,
because it is widely used.
Like observation of appearance and behavior, accurate observation of
affect is a skill that takes years to master. Although the overall emotional
flavor is usually obvious, the gradations and subtleties are not, and
assessing degree of affect can be vitally important for such things as
determining imminence of SI or predicting the likelihood of aggressive
acting out.
Often, you won't have to explicitly ask your patient how he's been feeling,
because he'll report it spontaneously. However, what do you do when your
patient is vague about his emotions or is reluctant to reveal himself?
Medication History
Give this one a try later!
Give this one a try later!
Be direct in obtaining identifying data. Request specific answers.
Elements of Mental Status Exam and mnemonic
Give this one a try later!
Elements of the Mental Status Examination
The MSE has roughly seven components. This mnemonic will help you to
remember them:
All Borderline Subjects Are Tough, Troubled Characters:
Appearance
Behavior
Speech
, Affect
Thought process
Thought content
Cognitive examination
ABSATTC
Chief complaint (CC) topic
Give this one a try later!
Brief statement in patient's own words of why patient is in the hospital or is
being seen in consultation
Carlat, Chapter 14
Give this one a try later!
ch 14
aggravating and alleviating factors
Give this one a try later!
, Does anything make the headache feel better or worse? How does it feel
to press on the site of pain?
Infections or inflammations (as in sinusitis or temporal arteritis) usually feel
worse on direct pressure.
Tension and migraine headaches usually do not feel worse on direct
pressure and often may feel better.
Is it worse in the day or at night? Cluster headaches are severe unilateral
headaches that occur particularly at night and often are worse with alcohol
ingestion (they are also associated with a red eye).
They commonly are "clustered", with remissions and exacerbations
occurring over weeks or months.
Headaches resulting from intracranial lesions may also occur at night.
Trigeminal neuralgia attacks commonly are precipitated by chewing or
touching a particular area of the face, such as the nose or mouth.
summarizes the components of the mental status examination: Affect (including
qualities)
Give this one a try later!
, Traditional teaching distinguishes mood from affect, with mood defined as
a patient's subjective report of how he feels, and affect defined as your
own impression of his emotional state. Although many clinicians do not
make this distinction in clinical work, you should become familiar with it,
because it is widely used.
Like observation of appearance and behavior, accurate observation of
affect is a skill that takes years to master. Although the overall emotional
flavor is usually obvious, the gradations and subtleties are not, and
assessing degree of affect can be vitally important for such things as
determining imminence of SI or predicting the likelihood of aggressive
acting out.
Often, you won't have to explicitly ask your patient how he's been feeling,
because he'll report it spontaneously. However, what do you do when your
patient is vague about his emotions or is reluctant to reveal himself?
Medication History
Give this one a try later!
