9.1 Delirium assessment and management for critical care

Published 06/06/2024

Quality improvement methodology

  • Incidence of delirium as defined by the number of patients who are delirious out of the total patients on the unit at any point in time. This can be reported as run charts as per the data.
  • Collected from the screening tool used and documentation in patient notes. This could be reported on a monthly or quarterly basis.
  • Number of episodes of delirium in individual patients during their stay on the unit.
  • Audit tool for the non-pharmacological and pharmacological methods used to prevent and treat delirium.
  • Audit methodology to assess sleep patterns of patients and its impact on the incidence of delirium.
  • Audit data with regards to the morbidity and mortality outcomes in patients with delirium; duration of mechanical ventilation; length of stay on ICU; length of stay in the hospital; death.
  • Follow-up of patients post-discharge from the unit/hospital: 30 days, 90 days, 6 months, 1 year. Multidisciplinary team and patient groups should discuss impact and measures to reduce the incidence of delirium and improve patient quality of life post- discharge.