A first year psychiatric resident is interviewing a patient in psychiatry ward. Which out of the following is the better test for recent memory?
High-Yield Explanation
Ans. D. What patient had in their last meal?Recent memory is the ability to remember what has been experienced within the past few hours, days, or weeks. It is assessed by asking patients to describe how they spent the past 24 hours, such as what they had to eat for their last meal. Remote, or long-term, memory is the ability to remember events in the distant past. Memory for the remote past can be evaluated by inquiring about important dates in patients' lives, such as their date of birth or how many siblings they have. The answers must be verifiable. Subtracting 7 from 100 is more a test of concentration. Asking who the president of the United States is tests the general fund of information.