Delirium in Older Adults

325 Words2 Pages
Problem: Delirium in older adults is often unrecognized by the healthcare professionals and 97% of the family care givers who observed delirium symptoms attribute it to aging. Hence the health of the older person is jeopardized
Purpose :
1. To examine the frequency of delirium in older adults residing in two Adult Day Centers
2. Their caregiver’s psychological stress related to the symptoms, mental health and coping with the older person’s care
Hypotheses: Delirium in older adults attending day care center and family care giver distress

The onset of delirium in healthy community dwelling elders is most often associated with an infection and no studies were found reporting on the frequency of delirium in community dwellers

Critical appraisal:

Result: Only 6.7 % of older adults had a positive screen for delirium and 96.6% family care givers stated that they had no knowledge of delirium prior to this study.
Nursing Implications: Delirium in community dwelling older adults are often associated with infection. The Nurses in Adult Day Centers and primary care centers might consider a delirium screen on routine basis; Confusion Assessment Method (CAM-ICU) is a structured instrument which assesses four features of delirium, is a valid and reliable method for people with diverse ethnicity and educational levels. Specific symptoms include acute onset and fluctuating course, inattention, disorganized thinking and altered level of consciousness. If the older adult has a positive score on acute onset and inattention and a positive score on either disorganized thinking or altered level of consciousness, patient is positive for delirium.
Nurses might be instrumental in helping care givers to increase coping skills. Teaching problem solving strategies to family care givers of patients with delirium might be beneficial. Also, educating family care

More about Delirium in Older Adults

Open Document