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Obtundation refers to less than full mental capacity in a medical patient, typically as a result of a medical condition or trauma. The root word, obtund, means "dulled or less sharp".

When a patient is first assessed, the medic, nurse or physician is checking to see if the person is "A&O times 4", which means alert and oriented with respect to identity, current location, current time and date, and what event led to the necessity for medical treatment. ^[1] If the patient has any difficulty answering questions about these matter, the practitioner may say the patient is obtunded or "A&O times 2" and so on. Some systems recognize A&O times 1, 2, and 3, but not A&O times 4. Thus, if a patient's status is reported as A&O times 3, this does not necessarily mean that the patient does not recall the event.

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