Quality Improvement in Delirium Health Literacy in Older Adult Patients and Their Caregivers Attending a Geriatric Clinic

Abstract

Background: Delirium is a common medical condition that is highly prevalent in older adults who are at increased risk for its development with any illness, post-surgery or during hospitalization. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the health literacy of older adult patients and their caregivers about delirium, offer a brief educational intervention, and reevaluate their knowledge post intervention. Materials and Methods:We conducted a quality improvement project, focused on delirium health literacy in older adult patients ≥60 years and their caregivers. Delirium knowledge of participants was evaluated in a pre-education survey after which they were given a delirium education booklet to read. A post-education delirium survey was conducted within 2-3 weeks of the educational intervention. Chi-square test was used to analyze the knowledge base of older adults. Results:The study population consisted of a total of 70 older adults who participated in pre-education (n=35) and post-education (n=35) surveys. Older adult patients and their caregivers had significant knowledge gaps about the potential causes or etiologies, risk factors, symptomatology, and prevention of delirium in the pre-education survey. After the educational intervention, in the posteducation survey, there were overall improvements in knowledge base of older adults in differentiating delirium with dementia (43% vs 94%, p<0.01) recognizing signs and symptoms (77% vs 94%, p<0.05), complications (76% vs 100%, p<0.01) and identifying the etiological factors associated with delirium. Conclusion:The quality improvement project demonstrated that older adults and caregivers have significant knowledge deficits about the common condition of delirium. This study also demonstrated that older adults were able to improve their health literacy regarding delirium after the intervention. Appropriate education on delirium for patients and caregivers might help in earlier identification, prevention, and better overall management of delirium.

Barriers to healthcare professionals recognizing and managing delirium in older adults during a hospital stay: A mixed‐methods systematic review

“…This rigorous multi‐method systematic review has identified that barriers to health professionals recognizing and managing delirium are significant issues that compromise safety and effectiveness of care for older adults during an acute hospital stay, with consequences also for patients' family and friends, clinicians and healthcare organizations. This finding is concerning particularly given the focus and investment in quality improvement in national (e.g., GMRC, 2022; Vardy & Thompson, 2020) and international (e.g., Azhar et al., 2022) healthcare contexts.…”

A Response to: Quality Improvement in Delirium Health Literacy in Older Adult Patients and Their Caregivers Attending a Geriatric Clinic [Letter]

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I have read with interest the paper by Azar et al, about the improvement in delirium health literacy they achieved in older adult patients and their caregivers, while attending a geriatric clinic. 1 The improvement in delirium literacy close to complete competence is valuable indeed, and it is worthily warranted, as its need is apparent.Yet I am just concerned about the statistical tool Authors adopted in their analysis. I suggest to verify if their results still persist using a different test.

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