[Prevalence of cognitive impairments in acute nursing care-Analysis and comparison of routine data]

Due to demographic changes an increasing prevalence of hospitalized patients suffering from cognitive impairments must be assumed. To enable the best possible treatment a routine procedure is necessary to detect this group of patients early on admission.

The current study assessed the prevalence rate of cognitive impairment in inpatients >65 years who were tested by the mini mental state examination (MMSE) during admission. Based on the screening quota the willingness of nurses to use the MMSE as a routine instrument was tested. The quota was also compared to the number of diagnoses coded as F in the ICD-10-GM. This retrospective study was conducted from October 2018 to March 2019 at a university hospital.

Of the 7311 inpatients >65 years, 11.7% were screened. The prevalence of cognitive impairments was 20.7% and was higher than the prevalence rate of dementia and delirium on the basis of medical diagnoses (p <0.001). With only 11.7% the willingness of the nursing staff to use the MMSE to assess cognitive impairments during patient admission was low.

The higher prevalence confirms the necessity to detect patients with cognitive disorders; however, the low willingness to use the MMSE suggests that a shorter instrument should be used and more information should be provided to nurses about patients with cognitive impairments.