FMSE — Fluctuating Mental Status Evaluation

What this tool is and how to interpret its evidence

Published in 2023, FMSE is described here as monitoring / repeated screening, intensive care for adults with intracerebral haemorrhage / neurocritical illness. The linked study examined it in Intensive care. The recorded form contains 5 scored items or observations. The reported administration time is approximately 1 min after relevant observations are available. The catalogue records the published scoring or threshold information as 1 or more indicates possible delirium; 2 or more indicates probable delirium in published neurocritical-care studies.

The linked source is Reznik ME and colleagues, A Pilot Study of the Fluctuating Mental Status Evaluation: A Novel Delirium Screening Tool for Neurocritical Care Patients in Neurocritical care (2023); this catalogue treats it as original/source and earliest DTA study. For FMSE, the evidence stage is multiple eligible diagnostic-accuracy studies. The reconciled DTA dataset associates 2 eligible studies with FMSE. The earliest listed evaluation used Expert DSM-5 delirium ratings as its reference standard. The first recorded accuracy result reports sensitivity 86% and specificity 73%; the recorded sample is 40.

Repeated FMSE observation may capture fluctuation, but interpretation depends on when and how observations are collected. Arousal, sedation and communication constraints are relevant when interpreting an intensive-care assessment. For FMSE, no verified public instrument form is recorded; the source article documents the tool but is not a substitute administration form.