Arch Intern Med
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The complex environment and technology of intensive care unit (ICU) care may impair the ability of patients to participate in medical decision making or give informed consent. We studied the agreement of the intuitive assessments of residents and nurses of ICU patients' cognition, judgment, and decision-making capacity, and whether those assessments agreed with abbreviated formal mental status testing. ⋯ Residents and nurses caring for patients newly admitted to the ICU agree in their assessment of cognition, judgment, and capacity to participate in medical decision making, and are not unduly influenced by ventilator status. Their assessments correlate highly with abbreviated formal mental status testing.