Participants completed an anonymous two-part written questionnaire (Appendix 1). Participants included first-year doctors (also known as house officers) and final-year medical students (trainee interns) attending protected training time sessions. This audit was completed between April and June 2017 at Canterbury, Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley District Health Boards (DHBs) in New Zealand. We hypothesised that formal teaching would improve the results on a follow-up audit.
Moca score 14 how to#
We therefore designed an audit with the aim of investigating junior doctors’ knowledge of how to complete the MoCA. No studies assessing accuracy of MoCA administration and scoring were identified through a literature search. This led to concerns that there could be errors in administration and scoring, which could impact on patient clinical outcomes. Knowledge on how to administer and score the MoCA seemed to be variable among junior doctors. There is also a blind version and more recently an application (app) for smart devices.11Īnecdotally, we noted that completing the MoCA test was often a task given to the most junior members of inpatient medical teams. The MoCA test comprises 30 questions assessing various domains of cognition and can be performed in 10 minutes.1 Formal instructions on how to administer the test and score the results are easily accessible on the official website ( It is used in over 100 countries and is available in 46 languages and dialects. The MoCA has been shown to be superior for the detection of mild cognitive impairment compared to the MMSE in many other studies since,2,3,4 and is a useful tool for predicting the development of dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment.5 It also has a role in cognitive assessment in a wide range of other conditions, including Parkinson’s disease,6,7 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,8 transient ischaemic attack and minor stroke,9 and Huntington’s disease.10 In the original validation study the MoCA was shown to have a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 87% for the detection of mild cognitive impairment, compared to 18% and 100% for the MMSE.1 The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was developed in 2005 to detect individuals with mild cognitive complaints who performed within the normal range on the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE).1 Mild cognitive impairment is a state between the normal cognitive changes associated with aging and dementia.
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