What if the person has cognitive impairment?
Realizing that it may not be feasible nor clinically reliable to administer a fully cognitive assessment to a hospitalized older adult, we have followed the following protocol. When a patient is approached and invited to participate, a brief 4-item cognitive screening is administered. Patients are asked their current age, todays date, the name of the facility in which they are hospitalized, and their telephone number. Patients who answered fewer than three questions correctly could still participate in the study provided they could identify an able and willing proxy.
