Free Essay: Clock Drawing Test (CDT) Assessment

The CDT test was administered on a 79-year-old patient. The standard scoring method was used and the patient received 3 out of 5 points. I point for the clock circle, 1 point for all of the numbers being in the correct order, and 1 point for all the numbers being in the proper special order. The circle size was 10 cm and all the appropriate numbers were included. However, all the numbers were on one side of the clock, and the patient could not indicate where 3:30 was on the clock, so he left it blank. Consequently, the patient should not be allowed to drive since he failed the clock drawing test indicating cognitive impairment. A low score indicates that there are areas of the brain that do not work properly and that there is a decrease in the cognitive abilities of the patient.

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There are several things learned from the assignment. In expert practice, a nurse sometimes finds that it is important to evaluate the cognitive functioning of a patient. Through the CDT test, visual analysis, perception, motor performance, attention, language and comprehension, and numerical knowledge are evaluated (Duro et al., 2018). It is a very simple test that is used for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia since it offers very valuable information about visual perception, visuomotor coordination, visuoconstructive capacity and planning and motor execution (Mazancova, Nikolai, Stepankova, Kopecek, & Bezdicek, 2017). This means being able to evaluate the activity of different cognitive functions, such as language, short-term memory, and visuospatial functions among others.

The test is based on asking the patient to draw a clock with all the hours and hands marking a certain time. To conduct the test properly, one must sort the numbers, draw the sphere and place the hands in the indicated position. The duly coordinated use of different cognitive areas (visual and motor organization, planning, and execution of the entrusted task, memory) is required (Supasitthumrong, Herrmann, Tunvirachaisakul, & Shulman, 2019). However, the test has limitations, since its benchmarks are based on subjective judgments of medical evaluators, such as determining whether a clock circle has only minor distortion. A digital AI pen has been developed to deal with the shortcomings of the clock drawing test. The pen can measure its position on paper more than 80 times per second, using an integrated camera. Thus, the pen provides data that is much more accurate than can be measured in an ordinary drawing and captures information that allows a computer system to analyze every movement and hesitation of the subject.

References

Duro, D., Tabuas-Pereira, M., Freitas, S., Santiago, B., Botelho, M. A., & Santana, I. (2018). Validity and clinical utility of different clock drawing test scoring systems in multiple forms of dementia. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 31(3), 114-122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891988718774432

Mazancova, A. F., Nikolai, T., Stepankova, H., Kopecek, M., & Bezdicek, O. (2017). The reliability of clock drawing test scoring systems modeled on the normative data in healthy aging and non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Assessment, 24(7), 945-957. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191116632586

Supasitthumrong, T., Herrmann, N., Tunvirachaisakul, C., & Shulman, K. (2019). Clock drawing and neuroanatomical correlates: A systematic review. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 34(2), 223-232. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.5013