An observational study of community health care nurses’ knowledge about delirium

Abstract

Background: Early detection of delirium among home-dwelling older patients is a substantial challenge for home health care providers. Despite an abundance of literature, recent studies still describe a widespread lack of knowledge about delirium and its underdetection in all types of health care settings. Aims and objectives: This study aimed to assess the knowledge of community health care nurses (CHNs) about delirium in the Switzerland's French-speaking region. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study involving 75 CHNs was conducted between February and July 2015. Data were collected using an autoadministered questionnaire based on the study by Malenfant and Voyer, exploring theoretical knowledge of delirium and its detection using clinical vignette case studies. Outcomes were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Forty-eight CHNs participated in the study; nearly all of them (44; 94%) selected the correct definition of delirium, and most (36; 78%) knew its four principal diagnostic criteria. Only 16 (34%) participants selected the confusion assessment method (CAM) as the recommended best practice delirium detection tool. Only 19 (40%) and 23 (49%) participants were able to correctly identify hypoactive and hyperactive delirium, respectively, from the clinical vignette case studies. The average score of CHNs on the Malenfant and Voyer's questionnaire was 12.7 (SD 3.2). Conclusion: Participants showed moderate-to-low knowledge about delirium. The study identified a lack of knowledge on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of delirium and the absence of suitable delirium detection tools.

Investigating nurses’ knowledge and attitudes about delirium in older persons: a cross-sectional study

“…The average overall correct answer rate was 42.2% (15/36) and is similar to that of the equivalent study conducted in Australia by the creators of the tool (53.14%) (Hare et .al., 2008). Similar results were noted by other studies conducted to investigate the level of nurses’ knowledge of delirium [ 0 , 35 ].…”

Nurses' experiences of delirium and how to identify delirium—A qualitative study

“…The nurses experienced a lack of perceived knowledge about delirium and the identification of delirium. This is disturbing, but nevertheless not completely unexpected since previous studies also show that knowledge about delirium is lacking in many clinical practices (Akrour & Verloo, 2017; Mistarz et al., 2011; Neerland et al., 2013; Travers et al., 2018; Vassbø & Eilertsen, 2014).…”

“…There appears to be a lack of knowledge in clinical practice about delirium (Neerland et al., 2013). There have been only a limited number of studies to explore community care services nurses' experience of delirium and how delirium is identified (Akrour & Verloo, 2017; Mistarz et al., 2011; Travers et al., 2018), which is why this study has been conducted. The research questions of the study are as follows: “How do community care nurses' experience delirium?” and “How is delirium identified?”.…”