An interdisciplinary statement of scientific societies for the advancement of delirium care across Europe (EDA, EANS, EUGMS, COTEC, IPTOP/WCPT)

Educational interventions aimed at improving knowledge of delirium among nursing home staff-a realist review

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a neuropathological syndrome that is characterised by fluctuating impairments in attention, cognitive performance, and consciousness. Since delirium represents a medical emergency, it can be associated with adverse clinical and economic outcomes. Although nursing home residents face a high risk of developing delirium, health care professionals in this field appear to have limited knowledge of delirium despite the critical role they play in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of delirium in nursing homes.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this realist review is to develop an initial programme theory with the goal of understanding how, why, and under what circumstances educational interventions can improve the delirium-specific knowledge of health care professionals in nursing homes.

METHODS

This realist review was conducted in accordance with the RAMESES (Realist And Meta-narrative Evidence Synthesis: and Evolving Standards) guidelines and includes the following steps: (1) search strategy and literature review; (2) study selection and assessment; (3) data extraction; (4) data synthesis; and (5) development of an initial programme theory. It also included stakeholder discussions with health care professionals recruited from nursing home care, which focused on their experiences with delirium.

RESULTS

From a set of 1703 initially identified publications, ten publications were included in this realist review. Based on these publications, context-mechanism-outcome configurations were developed; these configurations pertained to (1) management support, (2) cognitive impairments among residents, (3) familiarity with residents, (4) participatory intervention development, (5) practical application, (6) case scenarios, (7) support from experts and (8) relevance of communication.

CONCLUSIONS

Educational interventions aimed at improving the delirium-specific knowledge of health care professionals should feature methodological diversity if they are to enhance health care professionals' interest in delirium and highlight the fundamental contributions they make to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of delirium. Educational interventions should also take into account the multidimensional contextual factors that can have massive impacts on the relevant mode of action as well as the responses of health care professionals in nursing homes. The identification of delirium in residents is a fundamental responsibility for nursing home staff.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This review has been registered at Open Science Framework https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/6ZKM3.

Bringing Delirium to Light: Impact of CAM-ICU Tool to Improve Care Coordination

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a serious complication in patients in the critical care unit (CCU) that may lead to prolonged hospitalization if left undetected. The CCU at our hospital does not have a framework for determining delirium that could affect patient outcomes and discharge planning.

PRIMARY PRACTICE SETTING

CCU in a community hospital.

METHOD

A posttest-only design was used for this study. We established a framework for the early assessment of delirium, educated and trained nurses to detect delirium, collaborated with the informatics department, intensivist, nursing, respiratory therapy and worked with case management to deploy the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU). We used a one-tailed independent t test to determine the impact of CAM-ICU on length of stay (LOS). Cross-tabulation and chi-square tests were used to examine the impact of CAM-ICU tool on home care utilization between the intervention and comparison groups.

RESULTS

There was a 3.12% reduction in LOS after implementing the CAM-ICU tool. Also, a reduction in home care service utilization demonstrated statistical significance ( p = .001) between the intervention group (62.5%; n = 177) and the comparison group (37.5%; n = 106).

IMPLICATIONS FOR CASE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE

Case managers are essential in improving care transitions. Case managers need to become competent in understanding the implications of the CAM-ICU tool because of their relevant role in the multidisciplinary rounds as advocates to improve care transitions across the continuum of care. Case managers need to have an understanding on how to escalate when changes in the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale scores occur during the multidisciplinary rounds because it can affect care coordination throughout the hospital.

CONCLUSIONS

Implementing the CAM-ICU decreased LOS, and reduced health care utilization. The early identification of patients with delirium can affect the outcomes of critically ill patients and entails multidisciplinary collaboration.

Evaluation of Delirium Among Elders in the Emergency Department: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Health care professionals underestimate the recognition of delirium in emergency departments (EDs). In these settings, between 57% and 83% of cases of delirium go undetected. When delirium occurs, it causes an increase in the length of hospitalization, readmissions within 30 days, and mortality. No studies were carried out in Italy to assess the prevalence of delirium among elders in EDs.

OBJECTIVES

The primary goal of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of the risk of delirium in people 65 years and older hospitalized in the ED for a minimum of 8 hours. The study's secondary goal was to identify the variables that influenced the risk of delirium.

METHOD

A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in 2 EDs. The risk of delirium was assessed using the delirium screening tool 4 A's test. One hundred patients were enrolled. Data collection took place from June 28 to August 31, 2022.

RESULTS

The risk of delirium was detected in 29% of the sample, whereas the risk of cognitive impairment was 13%. The use of psychotropic drugs increased the risk of delirium by 11.8 times (odds ratio [OR], 11.80; P = .003). Bed confinement increased the risk by 4.3 times (OR, 4.31; P = .009). Being dehydrated increased the risk of onset by 4.6 times (OR, 4.62; P = .010). Having dementia increased the risk of delirium manifestation by 4.4 times (OR, 4.35; P = .021).

DISCUSSION

The risk of delirium was detected in a considerable portion of the sample. The results of this study can be used by health care professionals to implement preventive measures as well as support clinical judgment and establish priorities of care for patients at risk of developing delirium.

Nurse anesthetists' perceptions and experiences of managing emergence delirium: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

This study employs a descriptive phenomenological approach to investigate the challenges anesthesia nurses face in managing emergence delirium (ED), a common and complex postoperative complication in the post-anesthesia care unit. The role of nurses in managing ED is critical, yet research on their understanding and management strategies for ED is lacking.

AIM

To investigate anesthetic nurses' cognition and management experiences of ED in hopes of developing a standardized management protocol.

METHODS

This study employed a descriptive phenomenological approach from qualitative research methodologies. Purposeful sampling was utilized to select 12 anesthetic nurses from a tertiary hospital in Shanghai as research subjects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the data were organized and analyzed using Colaizzi's seven-step analysis method, from which the final themes were extracted.

RESULTS

After analyzing the interview content, four main themes and eight subthemes were distilled: Inefficient cognition hinders the identification of ED (conceptual ambiguity, empirical identification), managing diversity and challenges (patient-centered safe care, low level of medical-nursing collaboration), work responsibilities and pressure coexist (heavy work responsibilities, occupational risks and stress), demand for high-quality management (expecting the construction of predictive assessment tools and prevention strategies, and pursuing standardized management processes to enhance management effectiveness).

CONCLUSION

Nursing managers should prioritize the needs and suggestions of nurses in order to enhance their nursing capabilities and provide guidance for standardized management processes.

Improving the Detection, Assessment, Management and Prevention of Delirium in Hospices (the DAMPen-D study): Feasibility study of a flexible and scalable implementation strategy to deliver guideline-adherent delirium care

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a complex condition, stressful for all involved. Although highly prevalent in palliative care settings, it remains underdiagnosed and associated with poor outcomes. Guideline-adherent delirium care may improve its detection, assessment and management.

AIM

To inform a future definitive study that tests whether an implementation strategy designed to improve guideline-adherent delirium care in palliative care settings improves patient outcomes (reduced proportion of in-patient days with delirium).

DESIGN

With Patient Involvement members, we conducted a feasibility study to assess the acceptability of and engagement with the implementation strategy by hospice staff (intervention), and whether clinical record data collection of process (e.g. guideline-adherent delirium care) and clinical outcomes (evidence of delirium using a validated chart-based instrument;) pre- and 12-weeks post-implementation of the intervention would be possible.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS

In-patient admissions in three English hospices.

RESULTS

Between June 2021 and December 2022, clinical record data were extracted from 300 consecutive admissions. Despite data collection during COVID-19, target clinical record data collection (n = 300) was achieved. Approximately two-thirds of patients had a delirium episode during in-patient stay at both timepoints. A 6% absolute reduction in proportion of delirium days in those with a delirium episode was observed. Post-implementation improvements in guideline-adherent metrics include: clinical delirium diagnosis 15%-28%; delirium risk assessment 0%-16%; screening on admission 7%-35%.

CONCLUSIONS

Collection of data on delirium outcomes and guideline-adherence from clinical records is feasible. The signal of patient benefit supports formal evaluation in a large-scale study.

'It's tough. It is hard': A qualitative interview study of staff and volunteers caring for hospice in-patients with delirium

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a distressing condition often experienced by hospice in-patients. Increased understanding of current multidisciplinary care of delirium is needed to develop interventions in this setting.

AIM(S)

To explore hospice staff and volunteers' practice, its influences and what may need to change to improve hospice delirium care.

DESIGN

Qualitative interview study using behaviour change theory from a critical realist stance.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS

Thirty-seven staff, including different professional groups and roles, and volunteers were purposively sampled from two in-patient hospices.

RESULTS

We found that participants' practice focus was on managing hyperactive symptoms of delirium, through medication use and non-pharmacological strategies. Delirium prevention, early recognition and hypoactive delirium received less attention. Our theoretically-informed analysis identified this focus was influenced by staff and volunteers' emotional responses to the distress associated with hyperactive symptoms of delirium as well as understanding of delirium prevention, recognition and care, which varied between staff groups. Non-pharmacological delirium management was supported by adequate staffing levels, supportive team working and a culture of person-centred and family-centred care, although behaviours that disrupted the calm hospice environment challenged this.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings can inform hospice-tailored behaviour change interventions that develop a shared team understanding and engage staff's emotional responses to improve delirium care. Reflective learning opportunities are needed that increase understanding of the potential to reduce patient distress through prevention and early recognition of delirium, as well as person-centred management. Organisational support for adequate, flexible staffing levels and supportive team working is required to support person-centred delirium care.

Implementing a Delirium Risk Stratification Tool and Rounds to Identify and Prevent Delirium in Hospitalized Older Adults

BACKGROUND

Up to 40% of delirium cases are preventable, and early identification is key to improve patient outcomes.

PURPOSE

To implement and evaluate a multidisciplinary delirium intervention program.

INTERVENTION

The delirium intervention program targeted patients at high risk for delirium and included patient and nurse education, risk stratification, multidisciplinary rounds, a nonpharmacological intervention bundle, and a treatment order set.

RESULTS

After implementation, there was a reduction in length of stay of 6.3 days ( P = .01), a 24% decrease in disposition to a skilled nursing facility ( P = .05), and increased detection of delirium by nurses.

CONCLUSION

Positive patient outcomes were achieved by employing a multifactorial approach for delirium identification, prevention, and management. The components of this quality improvement project provide guidance to hospitals seeking to develop a delirium intervention program.

Innovative Non-Pharmacological Management of Delirium in Persons with Dementia: New Frontiers for Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy?

BACKGROUND

Delirium and dementia are two of the most common geriatric syndromes, which requires innovative rehabilitation approaches.

AIM

We aimed at determining which occupational therapy and physiotherapy interventions are applied with older people with delirium and dementia in different care settings. We also identified the assessment tools that were used.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We conducted a literature search for scientific articles published from 2012 to 2022 (PubMed, MEDLINE, AMED and CINAHL) with adults aged >65 years including experimental study designs with randomized or non-randomized intervention, exploratory studies, pilot studies, quasi-experimental studies, case series and/or clinical cases. Studies that did not use interventions that could be classified as occupational therapy or physiotherapy were excluded.

RESULTS

After applying the exclusion criteria, 9 articles were selected. The most widely used assessment to define dementia was the MMSE (N = 5; 55.5%), whereas the CAM (N = 2; 22.2%), CAM-ICU (N = 2; 22.2%) and RASS (N = 3; 33.3%) were the most widely used to define delirium. The rehabilitation interventions that were most frequently performed were early mobilization, inclusion of the caregiver during treatment, modification of the environment to encourage orientation and autonomy, the interprofessional systemic approach and engaging persons in meaningful activities.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the growing evidence on its effectiveness, the role of physiotherapy and occupational therapy interventions in the prevention and treatment of people with dementia and delirium is still emerging. More research is needed to investigate if effective occupational therapy programs known to reduce the behavioral and psychological symptoms in people with dementia are also useful for treating delirium and specifically delirium superimposed on dementia. Regarding physiotherapy, it is crucial to know about the amount and timing of intervention required. Further studies are needed including older adults with delirium superimposed on dementia to define the role of the interprofessional geriatric rehabilitation team.

Nurses’ competence in recognition and management of delirium in older patients: development and piloting of a self-assessment tool

Background

Delirium is a common condition in elderly inpatients. Health care professionals play a crucial role in recognizing delirium, initiating preventive measures and implementing a multicomponent treatment strategy. Yet, delirium often goes unrecognized in clinical routine. Nurses take an important role in preventing and managing delirium. This study assesses clinical reasoning of nurses using case vignettes to explore their competences in recognizing, preventing and managing delirium.

Methods

The study was conducted as an online survey. The questionnaire was based on five case vignettes presenting cases of acutely ill older patients with different subtypes of delirium or diseases with overlapping symptoms. In a first step, case vignettes were developed and validated through a multidisciplinary expert panel. Scoring of response options were summed up to a Geriatric Delirium Competence Questionnaire (GDCQ) score including recognition and management tasks The questionnaire was made available online. Descriptive analyses and group comparisons explores differences between nurses from different settings. Factors explaining variance in participants’ score were evaluated using correlations and linear regression models.

Results

The questionnaire demonstrated good content validity and high reliability (kappa = 0.79). The final sample consisted of 115 nurses. Five hundred seventy-five case vignettes with an accuracy of 0.71 for the correct recognition of delirium presence or absence were solved. Nurses recognized delirium best in cases describing hyperactive delirium (79%) while hypoactive delirium was recognized least (44%). Nurses from geriatric and internal medicine departments had significantly higher GDCQ-score than the other subgroups. Management tasks were correctly identified by most participants.

Conclusions

Overall, nurses’ competence regarding hypoactive delirium should be strengthened. The online questionnaire might facilitate targeting training opportunities to nurses’ competence.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03573-8.

Computerized tool and interdisciplinary care for older patients with delirium in the emergency department: a novel model in Taiwan

AIMS

A computerized tool and interdisciplinary care were implemented to develop a novel model for older patients with delirium in the emergency department (ED).

METHODS

We developed a computerized tool using a delirium triage screen and brief confusion assessment in the hospital information system, performed education for the healthcare providers, and developed a continuous care protocol. Comparisons for outcomes between pre- and post-intervention periods were performed.

RESULTS

Compared with the pre-intervention period, patients in the post-intervention period had shorter hospitalization stay, lower expenditure of hospitalization, more likely to return home, lower ED revisits of ≤ 3 days, re-hospitalization of ≤ 14 days, and mortality of ≤ 1 month. All mentioned differences were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

A novel model was successfully developed for delirium management in older patients in the ED. Outcome differences were not significant; however, the result is promising, which gives us an important reference in the future.

The future of intensive care: delirium should no longer be an issue

In the ideal intensive care unit (ICU) of the future, all patients are free from delirium, a syndrome of brain dysfunction frequently observed in critical illness and associated with worse ICU-related outcomes and long-term cognitive impairment. Although screening for delirium requires limited time and effort, this devastating disorder remains underestimated during routine ICU care. The COVID-19 pandemic brought a catastrophic reduction in delirium monitoring, prevention, and patient care due to organizational issues, lack of personnel, increased use of benzodiazepines and restricted family visitation. These limitations led to increases in delirium incidence, a situation that should never be repeated. Good sedation practices should be complemented by novel ICU design and connectivity, which will facilitate non-pharmacological sedation, anxiolysis and comfort that can be supplemented by balanced pharmacological interventions when necessary. Improvements in the ICU sound, light control, floor planning, and room arrangement can facilitate a healing environment that minimizes stressors and aids delirium prevention and management. The fundamental prerequisite to realize the delirium-free ICU, is an awake non-sedated, pain-free comfortable patient whose management follows the A to F (A-F) bundle. Moreover, the bundle should be expanded with three additional letters, incorporating humanitarian care: gaining (G) insight into patient needs, delivering holistic care with a 'home-like' (H) environment, and redefining ICU architectural design (I). Above all, the delirium-free world relies upon people, with personal challenges for critical care teams to optimize design, environmental factors, management, time spent with the patient and family and to humanize ICU care.

Delirium and Delirium Severity Predict the Trajectory of the Hierarchical Assessment of Balance and Mobility in Hospitalized Older People: Findings From the DECIDE Study

BACKGROUND

Delirium is common, distressing, and associated with poor outcomes. Despite this, delirium remains poorly recognized, resulting in worse outcomes. There is an urgent need for methods to objectively assess for delirium. Physical function has been proposed as a potential surrogate marker, but few studies have monitored physical function in the context of delirium. We examined if trajectories of physical function are affected by the presence and severity of delirium in a representative sample of hospitalized participants older than 65 years.

METHOD

During hospital admissions in 2016, we assessed participants from the Delirium and Cognitive Impact in Dementia study daily for delirium and physical function, using the Hierarchical Assessment of Balance and Mobility (HABAM). We used linear mixed models to assess the effect of delirium and delirium severity during admission on HABAM trajectory.

RESULTS

Of 178 participants, 58 experienced delirium during admission. Median HABAM scores in those with delirium were significantly higher (indicating worse mobility) than those without delirium. Modeling HABAM trajectories, HABAM scores at first assessment were worse in those with delirium than those without, by 0.76 (95% CI: 0.49-1.04) points. Participants with severe delirium experienced a much greater perturbance in their physical function, with an even lower value at first assessment and slower subsequent improvement.

CONCLUSIONS

Physical function was worse in those with delirium compared to without. This supports the assertion that motor disturbances are a core feature of delirium and monitoring physical function, using a tool such as the HABAM, may have clinical utility as a surrogate marker for delirium and its resolution.

Psychometric Properties of a Delirium Severity Score for Older Adults and Association With Hospital and Posthospital Outcomes

IMPORTANCE

The ability to rate delirium severity is key to providing optimal care for older adults, and such ratings would allow clinicians to target patients with severe delirium and monitor response to treatment, recovery time, and prognosis; assess nursing burden and staffing needs; and, ultimately, provide more appropriate patient-centered care. Current delirium severity measures have been limited in their content, gradations, and measurement characteristics.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the internal consistency, reliability, and validity for clinical outcomes of the DEL-S delirium severity score, a measure of delirium severity that was developed using advanced psychometric approaches, analogous to those of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System initiative.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This prospective cohort study was conducted at a large academic medical center in Boston, Massachusetts. Adults aged 70 years or older who were admitted or transferred to medical or surgical services as either emergency or elective admissions were enrolled between October 20, 2015, and March 15, 2017, and were monitored for 1 year. Data analysis was performed from June 2020 to August 2021.

EXPOSURES

Delirium severity, measured by scores on the delirium severity score short-form (SF; 6 items, scored 0-13, with higher scores indicating more severe delirium) and long-form (LF; 17 items, scored 0-21), considered continuously and grouped into 5 categories.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

The primary outcomes were in-hospital outcomes, including length of stay and hospital costs, and posthospital (30, 90, and 365 days) outcomes, including death, health care costs, and rehospitalization.

RESULTS

The 352 participants had a median (IQR) age of 79.7 (74.6-85.5) years, 204 (58.0%) were women, and they were highly educated (median [IQR] duration of education, 14 [7-20] years). Patients in the highest delirium severity score SF group (scores 6-9) had a longer length of stay (13.3 vs 6.9 days; P for trend < .001), greater in-hospital costs ($57 700 vs $34 200), greater cumulative health care costs ($168 700 vs $106 500; P for trend = .01), and increased mortality at 1 year (50% vs 17%; P for trend = .02) compared with patients in the lowest delirium severity score SF group (score 0). Similar trends and significant findings were demonstrated for the delirium severity score LF.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

These findings suggest that the delirium severity score provides an approach for measuring delirium severity that is associated with adverse clinical outcomes in a direct exposure-response association and that the delirium severity score may help advance patient-centered care for delirium.

The Impact of Nursing Delirium Preventive Interventions in the Intensive Care Unit: A Multicenter Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Rationale Delirium is common in critically ill patients and associated with deleterious outcomes. Non-pharmacologic interventions are recommended in current delirium guidelines, but their effects have not been unequivocally established. Objective To determine the effects of a multicomponent nursing intervention program on delirium in the Intensive Care Unit. Methods Stepped wedge cluster randomized controlled trial, conducted in Intensive care units of 10 centers. Adult critically ill surgical, medical or trauma patients at high risk to develop delirium were included. A multicomponent nursing intervention program focusing on modifiable risk factors was implemented as standard of care. Primary outcome was the number of delirium-free and coma-free days alive in 28 days after Intensive Care Unit admission. Measurements and main results A total of 1749 patients were included. Time spent per 8 hours shift on interventions was median [IQR] 38 [14-116] in the intervention period and median 32 [13-73] minutes in the control period (p=0.44). Patients in the intervention period had median 23 [4-27] delirium-free and coma-free days alive, compared to median 23 [5-27] days for patients in the control group (mean difference -1.21 days, 95%CI -2.84 to 0.42 days; p=0.15). Also, the number of delirium days was similar: median 2 [1-4] days (ratio of medians 0.90, 95%CI 0.75 to 1.09; p=0.27). Conclusion In this large randomized controlled trial in adult ICU patients, a limited increase was achieved of the use of nursing interventions, and no change in the number of delirium-free and coma-free days alive in 28 days could be determined. Clinical trial registration available at www.clinicaltrials.gov, ID: NCT03002701.

Intervenção não farmacológica no manejo de delirium: uma revisão bibliográfica integrativa

Resumo Introdução O delirium é um quadro clínico complexo caracterizado por uma expressão neuropsiquiátrica de doença orgânica, em que o indivíduo apresenta súbita alteração da capacidade cognitiva, possíveis flutuações do sono, consciência e atenção. O tratamento do delirium deve ser realizado por meio de uma abordagem multicomponente e interdisciplinar. Objetivo Conhecer as intervenções não farmacológicas para o manejo de delirium por equipe multiprofissional e aquelas conduzidas especificamente pelo terapeuta ocupacional. Método Revisão bibliográfica integrativa da literatura indexada nas bases Lilacs, Pubmed, Scopus e Web of Science e SciELO sem recorte temporal. Resultados As intervenções visavam o empoderamento e a participação de todos os agentes envolvidos no tratamento do paciente com delirium. Destacaram-se estratégias voltadas para: o aumento da autonomia e da independência do paciente; adequação das condições ambientais, de modo a promover segurança, conforto, familiaridade e orientação temporal-espacial; adaptação da rotina para favorecer o ciclo sono-vigília; estimulação física, cognitiva e sensorial; melhora do desempenho ocupacional e estímulo à realização de atividades significativas; prescrição de recursos de tecnologia assistiva e terapias complementares, quando indicado; avaliação e monitoramento constante do paciente; controle da dor, de sintomas emocionais e de condições clínicas que predispõem ao delirium; melhora da comunicação do paciente e sua vinculação com a equipe e com a rede de apoio; e educação em saúde. Conclusão As intervenções visam à integralidade do cuidado e devem, portanto, ser realizadas pelos diferentes profissionais que componham a equipe, destacando-se o papel que os terapeutas ocupacionais exercem no gerenciamento do delirium.

The influence of a serious game's narrative on students' attitudes and learning experiences regarding delirium: an interview study

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a neuropsychiatric syndrome that affects patients' attention and awareness as a result of a physical condition. In recent years, persistent gaps in delirium education have led to suboptimal delirium care. Still, little is known about what are the most important aspects of effective delirium education. Serious games are both entertainment and an interactive, safe learning environment where players can experiment and create new knowledge. They have the potential to contribute to improved delirium education. We used a video-based serious games' narrative to explore aspects essential to enhance students' attitudes and learning experiences regarding delirium.

METHODS

We created a semi-structured interview guide and interviewed seven nursing and nine medical students about their attitudes and learning experiences, after they had played the game. A qualitative descriptive design and inductive content analysis with constant comparison were used.

RESULTS

The patient's and nurse's perspective, interactivity to experiment, realistic views on care options, and feedback on care actions were important for enhancing students' attitudes and learning experiences regarding delirium. Students felt these aspects encouraged them to get actively involved in and experiment with the study material, which in turn led to enhanced reflection on delirium care and education. Our findings highlight the importance of a more patient-oriented focus to delirium education to drive attitudinal change. Students' learning experiences were further enhanced through their affective responses provoked by the perspectives, interactivity, realism, and feedback.

CONCLUSIONS

Students considered the characters' perspectives, interactivity, realism, and feedback important aspects of the game to enhance their attitudes towards delirious patients and enrich their learning experiences. A patient-oriented narrative provides a clinically relevant experience in which reflection plays an important role. The serious game also serves as medium to actively experiment with care solutions to create better understanding of how healthcare professionals can influence a delirious patient's experience.

Treatment of Delirium in Older Persons: What We Should Not Do!

The presentation of common acute diseases in older age is often referred to as “atypical”. Frequently, the symptoms are neither single nor tissue related. In most cases, the onset of symptoms and diseases is the expression of a diminished reserve with a failure of the body system and imbalance of brain function. Delirium is one of the main devastating and prevalent atypical symptoms and could be considered as a geriatric syndrome. It encompasses an array of neuropsychiatric symptoms and represents a disarrangement of the cerebral function in response to one or more stressors. The most recent definition, reported in the DSM-V, depicts delirium as a clear disturbance in attention and awareness. The deficit is to be developed in a relatively short time period (usually hours or days). The attention disorder must be associated with another cognitive impairment in memory, orientation, language, visual-spatial or perception abilities. For the treatment, it is imperative to remove the potential causes of delirium before prescribing drugs. Even a non-pharmacological approach to reducing the precipitating causes should be identified and planned. When we are forced to approach the pharmacological treatment of hyperactive delirium in older persons, we should select highly cost-effective drugs. High attention should be devoted to the correct balance between improvement of psychiatric symptoms and occurrence of side effects. Clinicians should be guided in the correct choice of drugs following cluster symptoms presentation, excluding drugs that could potentially produce complications rather than advantages. In this brief point-of-view, we propose a novel pharmacological flow-chart of treatment in relation to the basic clusters of diseases of an older patient acutely admitted to the hospital and, in particular, we emphasize “What We Should Not Do!”, with the intention of avoiding possible side effects of drugs used.

New Delirium Severity Indicators: Generation and Internal Validation in the Better Assessment of Illness (BASIL) Study

BACKGROUND

Delirium is a common and preventable geriatric syndrome. Moving beyond the binary classification of delirium present/absent, delirium severity represents a potentially important outcome for evaluating preventive and treatment interventions and tracking the course of patients. Although several delirium severity assessment tools currently exist, most have been developed in the absence of advanced measurement methodology and have not been evaluated with rigorous validation studies.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to report our development of new delirium severity items and the results of item reduction and selection activities guided by psychometric analysis of data derived from a field study.

METHODS

Building on our literature review of delirium instruments and expert panel process to identify domains of delirium severity, we adapted items from existing delirium severity instruments and generated new items. We then fielded these items among a sample of 352 older hospitalized patients.

RESULTS

We used an expert panel process and psychometric data analysis techniques to narrow a set of 303 potential items to 17 items for use in a new delirium severity instrument. The 17-item set demonstrated good internal validity and favorable psychometric characteristics relative to comparator instruments, including the Confusion Assessment Method - Severity (CAM-S) score, the Delirium Rating Scale Revised 98, and the Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale.

CONCLUSION

We more fully conceptualized delirium severity and identified characteristics of an ideal delirium severity instrument. These characteristics include an instrument that is relatively quick to administer, is easy to use by raters with minimal training, and provides a severity rating with good content validity, high internal consistency reliability, and broad domain coverage across delirium symptoms. We anticipate these characteristics to be represented in the subsequent development of our final delirium severity instrument.

Delirium superimposed on dementia

PURPOSE

Delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD) is a frequent and growing emerging clinical challenge, given the increasing prevalence of dementia.

METHODS

This narrative review focuses on and discusses the current knowledge on epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of DSD.

RESULTS

There is a close interaction between delirium and dementia since dementia is a risk factor for delirium and delirium is a known risk factor for newly developed dementia or worsening of dementia. The occurrence of DSD causes adverse clinical outcomes. However, DSD is often under-recognized or is frequently considered as the regular course of dementia. Indeed, especially in the advance stages of dementia, DSD diagnosis is challenging since a clear distinction between symptoms attributable to delirium and to dementia is difficult. Given the importance of DSD, it is essential to educate health care providers on the best approach for delirium management and treatment. It is now well recognized that delirium can be prevented using multicomponent interventions carried out by a multidisciplinary team targeting predisposing and precipitating risk factors for delirium. On the contrary, antipsychotics should only be used in patients with severe distressing symptoms and whose behavior means their safety or the safety of those around them is compromised, given the harmful of these medications in patients with pre-existing dementia.

CONCLUSIONS

It is essential to improve health care providers knowledge on DSD to improve the quality of care for an epidemiologically relevant though understudied population.