The Mini-Cog: a rapid dementia screening tool suitable for pharmacists' use.
OBJECTIVE
To familiarize the consultant pharmacist with the use of the Mini-Cog as a rapid screening tool for the assessment of dementia and outline currently available evidence regarding the validity of this screening tool within the community.


METHODS
MEDLINE (1990-December 2006) and Web of Science (1995-December 2006) were searched for original research and review articles published in English.


METHODS
Relevant literature regarding use of the Mini-Cog.


RESULTS
There exists a growing literature base regarding the clinical use of the Mini-Cog. Dementia within the elderly ambulatory population remains largely unrecognized. A rapid screening tool such as the Mini-Cog is a valuable instrument for health care practitioners, including consultant pharmacists, within the community to identify patients with possible cognitive impairment.


CONCLUSIONS
The Mini-Cog provides pharmacists with an easy and effective tool for the screening of dementia within assisted living, long-term care, and community-dwelling populations.
Setter
Stephen M
SM
Department of Pharmacotherapy, Colleg eof Pharmacy, Washington State University/Elder Services, Spokane, Washington 99217-6131, USA. ssetter@smhca.org
Neumiller
Joshua J
JJ
Johnson
Melanie
M
Borson
Soo
S
Scanlan
James M
JM
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010595:Pharmacists; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology