Delirium – Delirium Diagnosed

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Delirium – Delirium Diagnosed

geriguidesOctober 13, 2021List of Guides 0
Documenting and classifying delirium is important because it communicates to others the patient’s mentation is not normal
  • Imagine assuming care for a delirious patient on post hospital follow up or in a skilled nursing facility.
  • Without proper documentation, you may think the patient could have depression (looks like hypoactive delirium) or agitation due to behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD; can look like hyperactive delirium).

Classification of delirium:

Hyperactive

Characterized by motor agitation, restlessness, aggressiveness at times

Hypoactive

Characterized by motor retardation, apathy, slowing of speech, appearing sedated

Mixed (most common)

Cycling of both hyper- and hypoactive delirium

Subsyndromal

Subsyndromal delirium is characterized by features of delirium that does not meet threshold of diagnostic criteria. Though to be a “milder” version of delirium and area of ongoing research

After delirium is diagnosed, consider a geriatrics consultation*.

*Geriatric consults have been found to prevent the rates of delirium by around 30%. However, data on reduction of delirium severity and length of stay is not well established. Most geriatricians will tell you that geriatric assessment and consultation “has also been successful in preventing and treating delirium.”  With this being GeriGuides, we tend to agree 🙂