Geriatric Assessment Tools

Health care professionals who treat older adults may find the following geriatric assessment tools helpful in their practice.

Assessment Area	Available Tools
Cognitive Ability	Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Mini-Mental State Examination, 2^nd Edition™ Criteria for Alzheimer's Disease Typical Time Course of Alzheimer's Disease
Driving	AAA Professional Driving Assessment for Seniors AAA Self-Rating Driving Tool for Seniors AARP Driver Safety Program Brochures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers
Functional Ability	Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (Lawton IADL) Karnofsky Performance Scale (commonly used for assessing terminally ill patients) Karnofsky Performance Status (original scale defined by Karnofsky in 1949
Hearing	Hearing Handicap Inventory
Home Safety	Home Safety Checklist (courtesy of the National Safety Council)
Mood	Geriatric Depression Scale (Brink/Yesavage) \| Short Form Geriatric Depression Scale (other languages)
Neurologic Function	Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scales (AIMS) (to check for Parkinsonian side effects of neurologic medications) NIH Stroke Scale Parkinson's Disease (from the National Parkinson Foundation website) Stroke Assessment Scales (several from the Washington University School of Medicine)
Nutritional Status	Nutrition Checklist for Older Adults ("DETERMINE" mnemonic) \| Definitions (from the Nutrition Screening Initiative, AAFP/ADA/NCOA
Overall Health	Aging Quiz Healthy Habit Test
Pain	Challenges in Pain Management at the End of Life (American Family Physician, 10/01/2001) Pain Assessment
Palliative/Hospice Care	Palliative Care Assessment and Research Tools
Psychosis	Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) Pittsburgh Agitation Scale
Urinary Function	American Urological Association Prostatism Scale Urinary Incontinence - Treatable Causes ("DIAPPERS" mnemonic)