Adaptation of the Mini-Mental State Examination for Screening Patients from the Cognitive Rehabilitation Service in Telehealth Contexts

Abstract

Introduction: In the covid-19 pandemic, health services began to reorganize and offer telehealth assistance modalities. The Cognitive Rehabilitation Service has been restructured to receive new patients. There was a need to develop an evaluative resource for remote patient screening. Objectives: To adapt the cognitive screening instrument Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to an informal oral interview script useful in call centers. Methods: Adaptation of the 11 domains of the MMSE that were converted into informal questions, eliminating the need to apply it according to routine methodological rigor. We opted for colloquial oral language, necessary for the referred telemarketing, making it easier to screen patients using technological resources incorporated from mobile phones and videoconferences. Results: An interview script was developed with 38 questions equivalent to the MMSE. Conclusion: Facing social isolation, due to the restriction of social participation to the homes of professionals and patients, provided an opportunity to innovate actions and care structures in Cognitive Rehabilitation. An adapted instrument was proposed, capable of allowing the continuity of actions, appropriate to the establishment of Telehealth, during the current pandemic.