Study implementation

Study Center Geriatrics

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DELIA

Delirium screening in acute geriatrics

Delirium is an organ dysfunction of the brain that can be acutely life-threatening. Causes include inflammatory processes, physiological stressors and impaired metabolic processes. The presence of delirium can lead to a longer hospital stay for the patient and an increased mortality rate. However, an intrahospital diagnosis of delirium can reduce the six-month mortality rate compared to people in whom delirium was overlooked. From a health economic perspective, the consequences of delirium can be increased resource consumption and higher treatment costs. Due to the factors described here, the German Society of Geriatrics is calling for the establishment of delirium screening programmes in hospitals. Due to factors such as dementia, polypharmacy and multimorbidity, which are particularly common in older people, the prevalence of delirium is high among patients in intensive care units, in areas of post-operative care and in inpatient acute geriatrics. The Nu-DESC (Nursing Delirium Screening Scale) is therefore used as a screening instrument for recognising delirium on the geriatric ward at Oldenburg Hospital. However, research results have shown that people with hypoactive delirium in particular are often overlooked by the Nu-DESC. This is particularly problematic due to the higher risk of negative consequences in this delirium subgroup. For this reason, the CAM-OL, a further development of the CAM-ICU (Confusion Assessment Method for Intensive Care Unit) in which the "disorientation" and "disorganised thinking" items were added, is to be tested in this study and compared with the Nu-DESC. The addition of the item led to a subgroup-unspecific increase in sensitivity in a previous study. The aim of the study is to establish the delirium screenings already used in intensive care medicine on geriatric wards. In the long term, we would like to contribute to the early diagnosis of delirium and thus improve the care and treatment options for patients. 

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