Geriatric Special Topics: Delirium- Prevention, Early Recognition, and Treatment- 2HR

Course overview

OVERVIEW Delirium is a common complication in hospitalized older adults and is one of the major contributors to poor out comes of health care and institutionalization for older patients. The incidence and severity of delirium can be reduced by identifying modifiable risk factors, screening regularly for delirium, and implementing multicomponent interventions. If delirium does develop, early recognition is of paramount importance in order to treat the underlying pathology and minimize delirium’s sequelae. Although many researchers are seeking to identify effective pharmacological agents to prevent and/or treat delirium, nonpharmacological, multicomponent interventions have the strongest evidence of accomplishing these goals. Nurses play a key role in the prevention, early recognition, and treatment of this potentially devastating condition in older hospitalized adults. On completion of this course, the reader should be able to: • Discuss the prevalence and incidence of delirium. • Discuss risk factors of delirium in older hospitalized adults. • Describe the negative sequelae of delirium in older adults during hospitalization. • Discuss the importance of early recognition of delirium. • List four nonpharmacological interventions to prevent and/or treat delirium.