RT Book, Section
A1 Bourgeois, Fabienne C.
A2 Zaoutis, Lisa B.
A2 Chiang, Vincent W.
SR Print(0)
ID 1146113337
T1 Altered Mental Status
T2 Comprehensive Pediatric Hospital Medicine, 2e
YR 2017
FD 2017
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9780071829281
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1146113337
RD 2024/04/19
AB Altered  mental  status  (AMS)  is  a  broadly  applied  term  used  to  describe  any  change  in  a  patient’s  baseline  behavior,  cognitive  abilities,  or  awareness  of  and  interaction  with  the  environment.  The  presentation  of  altered  mental  status  in  a  pediatric  patient  encompasses  a  wide  variety  of  manifestations,  ranging  from  confusion  to  coma,  and  is  associated  with  a  myriad  of  etiologies.  The  workup  requires  careful  assessment  of  not  only  the  patient’s  presentation  and  examination,  but  also  a  detailed  history  of  prodromal  symptoms,  potential  exposures  (both  environmental  and  pharmacologic),  and  preceding  trauma.  The  evaluation  is  frequently  complicated  by  the  fact  that  the  patient  is  unable  to  participate  in  providing  information  due  to  either  impaired  mental  state  or  developmental  age,  and  clinicians  must  often  rely  on  parents  or  caregivers  to  elicit  contextual  details  to  assist  in  the  assessment.  In  particular,  it  is  important  to  understand  the  patient’s  baseline  mental  status  and  appreciate  how  the  current  presentation  differs.