The exam requires skill, patience, each focusing on a different part of the nervous system:
mental status
cranial nerves
motor system
sensory system
the deep tendon reflexes
coordination and the cerebellum
gait
The exam requires skill, patience, and intelligence on the part of the physician, and cooperation from the patient. Incomplete or inaccurate exams can lead to incorrect diagnoses.
Mental status
The mental status examination is a series of detailed but simple questions designed to test cognitive ability, including the patient's:
state of consciousness (awareness and responsiveness to the environment and the senses);
appearance and general behavior;
mood;
content of thought; and
intellectual resources (orientation with reference to time, place, and person; comprehension; ability to pay attention; insight; memory; judgment; abstract reasoning power; speech and language function; and intellectual capacity).In addition to specific questions that make up the actual mental status exam, the neurologist obtains important information by observing the patient's general behavior during the examination.
tags:,Neurological Exam,the neurologist; insight,The exam requires skill, patience,The exam requires skill, patience,Neurological Exam,the nervous