Development and preliminary testing of the neurological assessment instrument.

The purpose of this study was to test a neurological assessment instrument (NAI), used to assess neurological function in adults with acute brain lesions. Instrument items were designed to reflect different aspects of neurological function and assess consciousness along the arousal/awareness continuum as described by Plum and Posner. Content of the NAI was validated by 10 neuroscience expert physicians, nurses and speech pathologists. Reliability was tested with one pair of raters on 39 neurologically stable patients with acute brain lesions. Based on preliminary findings, the critical preliminary steps have been taken towards establishing a reliable and valid instrument with the potential of improving the assessment of neurological function in patients with acute brain lesions.