You want to test a patient's orientation formally. Before revealing the answer, decide how you would assess it and in what order you would expect any loss to appear.

Ask specifically and separately about time (the date, day of the week, approximate time of day), place (where they currently are), and person (who they are, and who the people around them are), rather than a single vague question about whether they feel 'confused'. Expect, if disorientation is present, that time will typically be lost first, since it depends on continuously tracking events that mark the passage of time and is easily disrupted by an unfamiliar routine such as being in hospital; place is retained somewhat longer, since the surroundings themselves provide clues; and person is lost with the greatest difficulty, since other people themselves supply the information needed to identify them. Also consider, in a patient with chronic schizophrenia and long-term institutionalisation, that an apparent disorientation may instead reflect indifference or rejection of contact rather than a genuine acute organic process — an important exception to check for before assuming an organic cause.