Book Review
General Psychiatry
Quick Cognitive Screening for Clinicians. Kenneth Shulman, Anthony Feinstein. London (UK): Martin Dunitz; 2003. 183 p. US$58.95.
Reviewer
rating*: Good
Review by: Martin Cole, MD, FRCPC
Montreal, Quebec
This brief book is a well-organized, well-written, and useful summary of knowledge on quick cognitive screening, for the office or at the bedside. The tables and illustrations throughout the book are excellent.
The introductory chapter discusses the issues of screening in general and cognitive screening in particular. The ideal cognitive screening instrument is described as being brief, acceptable, independent of confounding factors such as age or education, having excellent psychometric properties, and covering a wide range of cognitive functions. The chapter sets the stage for a discussion of specific instruments. The next chapter describes the assessment of premorbid intellectual functioning and includes a balanced discussion of the use of demographic characteristics (such as education and occupation) vs the measurement of verbal skills. The following 2 chapters (comprising almost one-third of the book) provide an authoritative review of current knowledge on the Mini-Mental State Exam and the Clock Drawing Test. Dr Shulman is an acknowledged expert on the latter test.
For me, the highlight of the book is the chapter on tests of frontal lobe function. This is a concise and masterly integration of frontal lobe anatomy, function, and clinical testing, which includes the limitations of knowledge in this area. Other chapters cover 10 short cognitive tests, including telephone screening, informant questionnaires, and neuro-imaging correlates of cognitive dysfunction.
In all, the book is a good effort. Hopefully, it will find a place on the desks of most clinicians treating older patients.
*Reviewer
Rating Scale/ Échelle d’évaluation du réviseur
Excellent / Excellent
Very Good / Très bon
Good / Bon
Fair / Passable
Not recommended / Pas recommandé
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