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Article
Published Online: February 1992

The Hopkins Competency Assessment Test: A Brief Method for Evaluating Patients' Capacity to Give Informed Consent

Abstract

The Hopkins Competency Assessment Test (HCAT), a brief instrument for evaluating the competency of patients to give informed consent or write advance directives, consists of a short essay and a questionnaire for determining patients' understanding of the essay. In a study to validate the instrument, 41 medical and psychiatric inpatients answered the questionnaire after reading the essay while hearing it read aloud. A forensic psychiatrist who was blind to the HCAT scores later examined the patients for competency. A subject's number of correct answers to the HCAT questionnaire was an accurate indicator of clinical competency as assessed by the psychiatrist. The results suggest that the HCAT is a useful tool for rapidly screening patients for competency to make treatment decisions.

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Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 132 - 136

History

Published in print: February 1992
Published online: 1 April 2006

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Details

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore; Meyer 144, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore

Notes

Meyer 144, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21205

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