Posted by Gary Ilminen, RN on June 14, 19100 at 09:24:32:
In Reply to: Alzheimer Quiz posted by Dani on June 11, 19100 at 01:50:31:
: I had taken one of my clients to the Dr. and he had given him a bit of a quiz to see just how far his Alzheimers had progressed awhile back, the other day a Nurse from another facility came out to where I work to assess moving one of our clients into the nursing home she was working for, she asked the same questions as the Dr. had asked my previous client. My question is (getting to the point here) I'm interested if there is a standard quiz out there for assessing the progression of Alzheimers Disease...I wasn't really paying attention to all the questions but one of them was count from 100 by 7's backwards, and they said they were going to give them 4 numbers to recall later in the interview. I was just wondering if I could possibly get a copy of such a test, I ran a search for "Alzheimers quiz" and came up with quizes asking caregivers about there knowledge of the disease...I was interested in seeing how some of my other residents would do with such a test or assessment interview...and was wondering if I'd be able to get a copy of it...
: Thanx
: Dani
There are several diagnostic tools clinicians can use to assess dementia or cognitive impairment. One is the Mini Mental State Exam which is the one you mentioned. Others include the Clincal Dementia Rating Scale, the 6-Item Blessed Orientation-Memory-Concentration Test, the Short Test for Dementia, the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE), the Confusion Assessment Method, and the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. The last test is particularly important since untreated depression places the elderly at increased risk for dementia. These tests are only one small part of the comprehensive physical exam and lab work necessary to accurately diagnose dementia vs. treatable delerium. There is a chapter on Alzheimer's disease in my book, "Consumer Guide to Long-term Care" if you would like more info.