Physician & Professor of Geriatric Medicine @EdinburghUni.
Chair, Scottish Hip Fracture Audit.
Delirium, hip fracture.
4AT info: https://t.co/XMJpy4YOYZ
Jan 8 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
❓ 𝐈𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐦-𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞?
🧵
1/
⭐ Delirium detection brings many benefits
These include triggering local management pathways, enabling clear communication of the diagnosis to patients and carers, a coherent approach from staff, and better follow-up information. 🔗 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33069307/
⭐ There is also some evidence that early detection and treatment can reduce the severity and duration of delirium. This is not only good for patients. It likely also reduces financial costs.2/
⭐ A key hospital performance metric is delirium detection
However we know from many studies that sadly we are still underdetecting delirium in hospitals across the globe.
⭐ Another measure of performance is the rates of delirium coded in hospital discharge summaries. This kind of data can be obtained from individual hospitals, but also from larger public and institutional databases.
(a) (encephalopathy, encephalitis—
defined as encephalopathy with evidence of inflammation
in the CNS [CSF white cell count >5 cells per µL, protein
>0·45 g/dL, or MRI consistent with inflammation],
seizures [clinical or electroencephalographic evidence],
