Instruments of Insight: Cognitive Tool Use by Occupational Therapy Practitioners at Midwest Trauma Centers

In the hospital setting, standardized cognitive screening and assessment tools are critical to determine the presence of cognitive changes for occupational therapy discharge planning and intervention approaches. However, there is limited understanding of trends related to standardized tool availability and use across different trauma center designations. This study aimed to identify commonly used standardized cognitive screens and functional performance assessments, and to explore factors influencing their selection and use. Electronic surveys were employed with a total of 28 questions. Two hundred and eight occupational therapy practitioners completed an electronic survey that measured demographics, availability and use of screens and performance assessments, and attitudes and perceptions regarding cognitive evaluation. Results support 86.5% of participants reported the use of paper-pencil-based standardized cognitive screens and 65.4% reported the use of cognitive performance assessments. Findings showed differences in access and availability of cognitive screening tools as well as performance-based assessments between trauma center designations. Implications of the results are discussed both with past studies and potential future work.