I had a discussion with a fellow employee a couple days ago regarding assessments of patients with suspected head trauma. One thing that was brought up was acute short-term vs long-term memory loss as a result of a head injury. I would like to share a quick tip for assessing memory loss in these cases.

Patients with short-term memory loss may present themselves as a GCS of 15 if only asked the standard questions. Answering the month, day, president or even a simple math question correctly doesn’t necessarily mean the patient doesn’t have an altered mental status. Detecting the presence of short-term memory loss can help the hospital staff to diagnose a concussion or a hemorrhage.

One obvious sign of short-term memory loss is repetitive questioning. However this doesn’t always occur. My favorite assessment strategy is to give the patient a number or word to remember (something easy). Make sure they know that it is important that they remember the number or word as you will be asking them what it is later. Wait a couple minutes and ask them to repeat what you told them. If they can’t remember, you can always try it again to make sure. If they do remember, then their short-term memory is most likely still in tact.

If you have any questions or suggestions for assessing short-term memory loss, please comment below or e-mail me.