The Missouri automated mental status examination: development, use and reliability

Residents performance on the mental status examination

Twenty-six residents watched a videotape of the mental status examination of a psychotic patient, then wrote their assessment of the patient's mental status. The residents' reports were independently graded by the authors. The residents' marks were compared to performance on departmental oral examinations. Results showed that global or qualitative assessment of mental status performance was reliable. Excellent interrater reliability was achieved when the assessment criteria for sub-items of the mental status were well defined.

Concurrent validity of the Global Assessment Scale: what's in a number?

The concurrent validity of the Global Assessment Scale was investigated by correlating it with several measures of psychiatric symptomatology and impairment from 192 adults and children admitted for outpatient treatment. Results suggest questionable validity as an index of psychopathology.

Residents training in the mental status examination

One hundred and ninety-two Canadian psychiatry residents (43% of the total Canadian resident population) completed a questionnaire concerning their training in and use of the mental status examination (MSE). Residents perceive a number of deficiencies in their training for the mental status examination. They employ a wide variation in tests, and show a lack of sophistication in how to test for special dysfunctions. We discuss these data in the context of accumulated research on MSE. It should be possible to provide more systematic training in the MSE and we suggest modifications in resident training which might produce a more uniform and reliable MSE.