[Patterns of detection of mild cognitive impairment in nursing]

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is characterized by an acquired cognitive loss that places individuals, mainly older adults, in an intermediate stage between normal cognitive functioning and dementia. This impairment has a high risk of progression to dementia and is suitable for screening, which allows more effective early intervention. Nursing professionals, especially community-based primary care nurses, play an important role in the detection and follow-up of MCI and in interventions for this condition. The first step should be to take a thorough history from both the patient and his or her carers, which should assess the changes occurring in the patient's daily, family and social life through functional patterns. In subsequent assessment of cognitive function, brief screening tests can be used such as the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) or other similar tests. Special attention should be paid to the presence of affective or depressive symptoms, sensory deficits, polypharmacy, decompensated cardiovascular risk factors, and rapid functional deterioration, given their particular influence on MCI. Finally, various nurse-led, non-pharmacological interventions that are effective in MCI can be recommended, based on cardiovascular risk factor control, physical exercise, and cognitive and psychosocial interventions.

Related Concept Videos

Cognitive Dissonance01:38

Cognitive Dissonance

Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
37.5K
Fixed Action Patterns01:06

Fixed Action Patterns

A fixed action pattern (FAP) is a specific, hard-wired sequence of behaviors that occurs in response to an external stimulus, called a sign stimulus. The behavior is “fixed” because it is essentially unchangeable—proceeding similarly across individuals of a species every time it occurs.
17.7K
Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
812
Cognitive Therapy01:25

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy, pioneered by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s, is a structured approach to addressing psychological distress by focusing on the influence of thoughts on emotions and behaviors. All cognitive therapies involve the basic assumption that human beings have control over their feelings, and that how individuals feel about something depends on how they think about it. Unlike psychoanalytic methods that delve into unconscious processes or humanistic approaches emphasizing...
1.3K
Cognition and Behavior01:23

Cognition and Behavior

Social psychology examines the complex interplay between individual mental processes and social interactions. Historically, the field was divided into two domains: social behavior and social cognition. Researchers focusing on social behavior analyzed actions within social contexts, such as conformity, aggression, or cooperation. Meanwhile, social cognition researchers investigated how people perceive, interpret, and mentally represent their social environments. However, modern perspectives no...
383
Cognitive Learning01:21

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
1.4K