RCS

Validated

Saint Louis University Rapid Cognitive Screen (RCS)

Older adults (60+)Clinician~3 min4 questions

Clinician-administered. Is the patient alert? Record the level of education. 1. "Please remember these five objects. I will ask you what they are later." Read each object to the patient using approximately 1 second intervals: Apple, Pen, Tie, House, Car. "Please repeat the objects for me." If the patient does not repeat all 5 objects correctly, repeat until all objects are recalled correctly or up to a maximum of 2 times. Then continue with the clock drawing.

Report details · optional

Patient initials / IDCompleted byDate

Shown on the report and stored with the screening record. Use initials or a code, not full names.

Answers, results and report details are recorded by OpenScreener to monitor and improve the service. Privacy

About this screener — evidence, source

A point-of-care cognitive screen from Saint Louis University built from three items of the SLUMS exam: delayed recall of five objects, clock drawing (hour markers and time) and an insight/story question. Scores of 8–10 are normal, 6–7 suggest mild cognitive impairment and 0–5 suggest dementia.

Evidence · validated

In 702 veterans aged 65–92 (St Louis VAMC GRECC), optimal cut-offs were ≤ 5 for dementia (sensitivity 0.89, specificity 0.94) and ≤ 7 for MCI (sensitivity 0.87, specificity 0.70); higher scores were protective against nursing-home placement and mortality. Results were replicated in 168 outpatients aged 60–90 (Malmstrom et al., 2015).

Source & licence

Malmstrom TK, Voss VB, Cruz-Oliver DM, Cummings-Vaughn LA, Tumosa N, Grossberg GT, Morley JE. The Rapid Cognitive Screen (RCS): a point-of-care screening for dementia and mild cognitive impairment. J Nutr Health Aging. 2015;19(7):741–744. Saint Louis University Division of Geriatric Medicine.

Licence: No copyright — Saint Louis University's Rapid Geriatric Assessment, which includes the RCS, states "There is no copyright on these screening tools and they may be incorporated into the Electronic Health Record without permission and at no cost."

Wording and scoring from the SLU RCS form (https://www.slu.edu/medicine/internal-medicine/geriatric-medicine/aging-successfully/-pdf/rapid-cognitive-screen.pdf). The clock face is drawn on paper; record the scores here.

Official source ↗