Skip to main content

Master of Public Health

Diagnosing delirium in older emergency department patients: validity and reliability of the delirium triage screen and the brief confusion assessment method.

AUTHORS

Han JH , Wilson A , Vasilevskis EE , Shintani A , Schnelle JF , Dittus RS , Graves AJ , Storrow AB , Shuster J , Ely EW , . Annals of emergency medicine. 2013 11 ; 62(5). 457-65

ABSTRACT

Delirium is a common form of acute brain dysfunction with prognostic significance. Health care professionals caring for older emergency department (ED) patients miss delirium in approximately 75% of cases. This error results from a lack of available measures that can be performed rapidly enough to be incorporated into clinical practice. Therefore, we developed and evaluated a novel 2-step approach to delirium surveillance for the ED.

Delirium is a common form of acute brain dysfunction with prognostic significance. Health care professionals caring for older emergency department (ED) patients miss delirium in approximately 75% of cases. This error results from a lack of available measures that can be performed rapidly enough to be incorporated into clinical practice. Therefore, we developed and evaluated a novel 2-step approach to delirium surveillance for the ED.

Tags: