Nursing

Assess a patient’s mental status to improve care

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, January 5, 2007

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

Early assessment by the care team of patients' mental status may help you more effectively manage their care and potentially prevent problems. A patient's mental assessment involves checking for his or her:

  • cognitive function: awareness, perception, and ability to remember. (This impacts the teaching and learning interaction.)
  • sense of self
  • interpersonal abilities
  • coping style: ability to contend and deal with problems successfully
  • emotions and affective functioning

Editor's note: The above excerpt is from the online course, "Handling Difficult Patients: A Guide for Healthcare Staff." For more information on this and other courses in our library, go to http://www.hcprofessor.com/.



Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

Most Popular

Related Articles