The Navy Mental Health Information System Mental Status Examination: Development and Use.

This report documents the development and implementation of the Navy Mental Health Information system NAMHIS Mental Status Examination MSE module. The primary design criteria for the NAMHIS MSE was to provide a standardized, comprehensive protocol for evaluating and documenting the mental status of patients in Navy outpatient mental health clinics. A review of existing mental status examinations resulted in the selection of the Missouri MSE as a starting product. This MSE had undergone extensive reliability and validity testing and could be tailored to conform to the NAMHIS design criteria. The rationale for changes made in the Missouri MSE is explained and the final instrument is illustrated in this report.