Clock drawing, clock copying, and physical abilities in geriatric rehabilitation

Abstract

Ruchinskas RA, Singer HK, Repetz NK. Clock drawing, clock copying, and physical abilities in geriatric rehabilitation. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2001;82;920-4. Objectives: To determine whether clock drawing and clock copying assess domains that are critical for successful rehabilitation and to evaluate the use of these tasks in predicting physical abilities during rehabilitation. Design: Observational survey study of geriatric cohorts. Setting: Inpatient university hospital rehabilitation unit. Patients: A total of 172 urban geriatric rehabilitation patients with orthopedic, neurologic, or medical diagnoses. Main Outcome Measures: Clock drawing and copying, FIM™ instrument, Mattis Dementia Rating Scale, and Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination. Results: Clock drawing and copying correlated highly with other measures of general cognitive ability. Classifying patients according to established cutoffs on clock drawing and copying revealed that patients with cognitive impairment had poorer physical abilities at discharge. Conclusion: Clock drawing can be used as a brief screening measure to determine cognitive integrity. Clock copying can yield valuable information about geriatric patients' potential acute rehabilitation course and discharge status. © 2001 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation