The meaning of acute confusional state from the perspective of elderly patients

Abstract

The findings indicates that what takes place during the ACS is not nonsense but probably a mix of the patient's life history, their present situation and above all a form of communication concerning their emotional state and inner experiences in this new situation. The findings also indicated that one possible approach to the patients is to confirm and support the patients in narrating their experiences both during the confusion and also after the ACS had ceased.

Lived Experience of the Intensive Care Unit for Patients Who Experienced Delirium

“…Our findings are consistent with those of previous studies [11][12][13] done outside the ICU. An important finding from our study is that participants reported feeling that staff did not know if the participants were oriented or not.…”

The delirium experience: A review

“…A systematic literature search using the terms delirium in combination with each of mental recall, posttraumatic stress disorders, nurse-patient relations, attitude of health We identified seven qualitative [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and one semiqualitative [18] studies of patients with delirium (Table 1). Two studies examined the relationship between PTSD and delirium in the intensive care unit (ICU) [19,20].…”

“…For some patients, a disinterested perplexity, in which they observe events as through a mist, may be the most common mood experienced [11]. Less commonly, patients report enjoying their experiences during delirium [11,12,16].…”

“…The dominant emotions in many studies were fear, anxiety, and of feeling threatened during the episode of delirium [11][12][13][14][15][16], and these feelings may be directly related to patients' aggressive behavior [16]. Feelings of hopelesness, loneliness, and depression are also common [16,17].…”

«Dantes Inferno» – psykologisk førstehjelp ved postoperativt delirium

“…Det eneste hun visste var at hun var i stor fare -ikke på grunn av kritisk sykdom, men fordi hun trodde at hun ble holdt fanget, omgitt av ondskap og brutalitet. Caroline beskriver typiske symptomer ved postoperativt delirium, dramatiske scener som gir opphav til sterke følelser, frykt og panikk (4,5). Det er som å drømme i våken tilstand, eller som å vaere i et våkent mareritt.…”