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What are mental status changes?
Changes in mental status or mental confusion
describe a patient's inability to think
clearly. Symptoms may range in severity
from difficulty responding to basic questions
to hallucinations and paranoia. As a result
of mental status changes, patients may feel
confused, frustrated, or even angry.
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How can you tell if a patient has mental status changes?
The three principal features of confusion are:
- Inability to maintain a coherent stream of thought
- A disturbance of awareness with heightened distractibility
- Inability to carry out a sequence of goal-directed movements
During the course of the physical examination
you ask the patient a series of questions,
both to determine the extent of the mental
status changes and narrow down possible
causes. Click here
for a list of possible questions.
You may also perform a series of cognitive
tests to assess a patient's mental status.
Click here
to learn about the tests, normal test values,
and what abnormal results indicate.
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Possible causes/diagnosis:
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Science Links
How
does my brain work?
This article includes lots of detail, great
explanations, and easy to understand language.
How your brain work
A slide show, explaining how the brain controls the nervous system.
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