Nurses may fail to recognize delirium in a patient when certain risk factors are present. Patients with multiple risk factors should be monitored more closely for delirium.
Risk factors:
(1) age
(2) hypoactive delirium
(3) vision status
(4) dementia
|
Factor |
Adjusted Odds Ratio |
95% Confidence Interval |
|
age >= 80 years |
2.8 |
1.7 – 4.7 |
|
hypoactive delirium |
7.4 |
4.2 – 12.9 |
|
vision impairment |
2.2 |
1.2 – 4.0 |
|
dementia |
2.1 |
1.2 – 3.7 |
After Table 5, page 2472
|
Factor |
Finding |
Points |
|
age |
< 80 years |
0 |
|
|
>= 80 years |
1 |
|
delirium type |
hypoactive |
1 |
|
|
other |
0 |
|
vision status |
normal |
0 |
|
|
impaired |
1 |
|
dementia |
present |
1 |
|
|
absent |
0 |
number of risk factors =
= SUM(points for all 4 factors)
Interpretation:
• minimum number of risk factors: 0
• maximum number of risk factors: 4
• The chance of delirium being underrecognized by nurses increases as the number of risk factors increase.
|
Number of Risk Factors |
Percent Underrecognized |
|
0 |
2% |
|
1 |
6% |
|
2 |
15% |
|
3 or 4 |
44% |
Specialty: Neurology
