The nurse has just finished explaining to a patient's son the function of the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE). Which statement by the patient's son indicates his understanding?
1. "This test will evaluate my dad's ability to think, reason, and make decisions.".
2. "This test will give us a good idea if Dad is mentally healthy enough to live alone.".
3. "If Dad passes this test, we will know that his mind is still okay.".
4. "I'm sure Dad will do well on the test; he's always been smart.".
1
Rationale 1: The MMSE assesses the higher cortical functions of thinking and reasoning as well as level of consciousness, orientation, attention, memory, affect and insight, speech and language, fund of knowledge, and abstraction.
Rationale 2: There are other factors besides those evaluated by the MMSE that can impact one's ability to live independently.
Rationale 3: The MMSE evaluation is not a pass/fail type of testing and does not provide definitive proof of mental wellness.
Rationale 4: Intelligence is not the focus of the evaluation.
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