Final answer:
The mnemonic used to assess a patient's mental status is AVPU, which represents different levels of consciousness.
Step-by-step explanation:
The mnemonic used to assess a patient’s mental status is AVPU. This stands for Alert, Verbal, Pain, and Unresponsive, which are different levels of consciousness that a medical professional would check to determine a patient's mental status during an examination.
This is different from the Apgar score, which is a quick test performed on a newborn after birth to determine their physical condition and includes criteria such as Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration, as remembered by the mnemonic APGAR.
Mental status exams may also involve cognitive assessments that can categorize cognitive abilities into aspects such as orientation and memory, language and speech, sensorium, as well as judgment and abstract reasoning.