Capacity and Mental Competency - Video Lesson

Welcome to today's lesson on understanding capacity and mental competency within health care. As future and current health care professionals, this knowledge is paramount to ensuring both ethical and effective patient care. First, let's differentiate between capacity and mental competency. While often used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings in health care. Capacity refers to a patient's ability to understand the consequences of a specific decision at a given time. In contrast, mental competency is a legal term often decided by the court addressing a patient's overall ability to manage personal affairs and make life decisions. Why might someone struggle with capacity or mental competency? Common culprits include conditions like dementia, mental illnesses, physical or intellectual disabilities, certain neurological disorders, or traumatic accidents. For example, Sarah, an eighty year old with a recent out