Intensive Care Unit Delirium, Clinical Observations, and Patients' Statements: A Case Study

Delirium Care by Intensive Care Unit Nurses: Focus Group Studies in a Medical Center of Southern Taiwan

OBJECTIVES

Studies have identified many nursing interventions that can prevent delirium and fall accidents in clinical patients, detect and treat delirium early to prevent functional decline in the patient, shorten hospitalization duration, and lower the death rate. This study aimed to explore delirium care by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses in a medical center of southern Taiwan.

METHODS

This study conducted 3 semistructured focus group interviews, each for a single medical ICU, involving groups of 6 to 8 nurses each. The nurses were recruited through purposive sampling. This research was approved by an institutional review board in the medical center of southern Taiwan from March 31, 2020, to January 30, 2021. The co-principal investigator described the purpose and process of this study to the participants before they provided their written informed consents. The interviews were conducted in the meeting room and were audiotape recorded. The recordings were transcribed and subject to content analysis to identify the themes of delirium care.

RESULTS

For nursing interventions of delirium, satisfying the patient's physical needs: comfort care, massages, and early rehabilitation; and psychological care: being presence, communication, and ensuring familial support were included. In terms of environmental interventions for delirium, providing reorientation, music, light, belongings with sentimental value, and audiovisual equipment were included. However, according to the recruited medical ICU nurses, these nonpharmacological interventions, although effective, do not have long-lasting effects. Finally, nurses reported themselves as having been attacked by patients with delirium. Thus, they all agreed that restraining patients with delirium may be necessary, but restraining is a double-edged sword for ICU delirium patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Research team suggests for future studies to extend their evidence-based findings of physical, psychological, and environmental care for ICU delirium patients toward integrating the efforts of various health care professionals.

The hidden link between circadian entropy and mental health disorders

The high overlapping nature of various features across multiple mental health disorders suggests the existence of common psychopathology factor(s) (p-factors) that mediate similar phenotypic presentations across distinct but relatable disorders. In this perspective, we argue that circadian rhythm disruption (CRD) is a common underlying p-factor that bridges across mental health disorders within their age and sex contexts. We present and analyze evidence from the literature for the critical roles circadian rhythmicity plays in regulating mental, emotional, and behavioral functions throughout the lifespan. A review of the literature shows that coarse CRD, such as sleep disruption, is prevalent in all mental health disorders at the level of etiological and pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical phenotypical manifestations. Finally, we discuss the subtle interplay of CRD with sex in relation to these disorders across different stages of life. Our perspective highlights the need to shift investigations towards molecular levels, for instance, by using spatiotemporal circadian "omic" studies in animal models to identify the complex and causal relationships between CRD and mental health disorders.

Multicomponent nursing program to prevent delirium in critically ill patients: a randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVES

To determine the efficacy of a multicomponent nursing program to prevent delirium in critically ill patients.

METHODS

Parallel controlled randomized clinical trial to prevent delirium in 81 critically ill patients: 41 in the control group and 40 in the intervention group (intervention: spatial and temporal guidance, visual stimulus, auditive stimulus, and family support). Participants were recruited from September 2017 to March 2018 in the university hospital Los Comuneros, Bucaramanga, Colombia. Clinical Trials record NCT03215745.

RESULTS

The incidence of delirium was 5% in the intervention group and 24% in the control group. The relative risk was 0.20 (95% CI 0.05 to 0.88). The absolute risk reduction was 19.39% (95% CI 4.61 to 34.17) and the number needed to treat was 5 (95 CI % 3 to 26%).

CONCLUSION

The multicomponent nursing program is efficient to prevent delirium in critically ill patients.