How Do Nurses Assess Cognition in Adults With Neurological Conditions? A Scoping Review

Background: According to epidemiological studies, neurological cognitive problems are increasingly prevalent in the aging population, with estimates that the number of people living with cognitive impairment will triple by 2050. Therefore, early detection in rehabilitation settings is needed to manage cognitive changes to ensure that individuals living with these conditions receive care and support that addresses their needs. Purpose: This scoping review, based on the Arksey and O’Malley method, aims to investigate the cognitive assessments used for patients with neurological conditions in current nursing practice. Method: PubMed, Ovid Medline, and CINAHL databases were searched to identify relevant articles published from 2017 to 2023 in English. Twenty-four articles met the inclusion criteria. Cognitive assessments were evaluated across acute care/hospital, outpatient/clinic, community, and long-term care/nursing home settings. Results: The Mini-Mental State Examination is the most frequently used tool across all settings except for long-term care. Cognition includes many different domains such as executive functioning and speed of processing information; however, most tools only capture memory. The nursing profession must expand its standardized nursing vocabulary to capture cognition better. Conclusions: As rehabilitation nurses navigate diverse clinical environments, recognition of contextual nuances is important in selecting cognitive function measurement tools most suitable for their setting.