This study was conducted to investigate relationship between delirium, risk factors on delirium, and patient prognosis based on Donabedian's structure-process-outcome model.

This study utilized a path analysis design. We extracted data from the electronic medical records containing delirium screening data. Each five hundred data in a delirium and a non-delirium group were randomly selected from electronic medical records of medical and surgical intensive care patients. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20 and AMOS 24.

In the final model, admission via emergency department (B=.06, p=.019), age over 65 years (B=.11, p=.001), unconsciousness (B=.18, p=.001), dependent activities (B=.12, p=.001), abnormal vital signs (B=.12, p=.001), pressure ulcer risk (B=.12, p=.001), enteral nutrition (B=.12, p=.001), and use of restraint (B=.30, p=.001) directly affecting delirium accounted for 56.0% of delirium cases. Delirium had a direct effect on hospital mortality (B=.06, p=.038), hospital length of stay (B=5.06, p=.010), and discharge to another facility (not home) (B=.12, p=.001), also risk factors on delirium indirectly affected patient prognosis through delirium.

The use of interventions to reduce delirium may improve patient prognosis. To improve the dependency activities and risk of pressure ulcers that directly affect delirium, early ambulation is encouraged, and treatment and nursing interventions to remove the ventilator and drainage tube quickly must be provided to minimize the application of restraint. Further, delirium can be prevented and patient prognosis improved through continuous intervention to stimulate cognitive awareness and monitoring of the onset of delirium. This study also discussed the effects of delirium intervention on the prognosis of patients with delirium and future research in this area.

This study was done to develop of the Korean intensive care delirium screening tool (KICDST).

The KICDST was developed in 5 steps: Configuration of conceptual frame, development of preliminary tool, pilot study, reliability and validity test, development of final KICDST. Reliability tests were done using degree of agreement between evaluators and internal consistency. For validity tests, CVI (Content Validity Index), ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristics) analysis, known group technique and factor analysis were used.

In the reliability test, the degree of agreement between evaluators showed .80~1.00 and the internal consistency was KR-20=.84. The CVI was .83~1.00. In ROC analysis, the AUC (Area Under the ROC Curve) was .98. Assessment score was 4 points. The values for sensitivity, specificity, correct classification rate, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were found to be 95.0%, 93.7%, 94.4%, 95.0% and 93.7%, respectively. In the known group technique, the average delirium screening tool score of the non-delirium group was 1.25±0.99 while that of delirium group was 5.07±1.89 (t= - 16.33, p <.001). The factors were classified into 3 factors (cognitive change, symptom fluctuation, psychomotor retardation), which explained 67.4% of total variance.

Findings show that the KICDST has high sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, this screening tool is recommended for early identification of delirium in intensive care patients.

The aims of this study were to develop and test the validity of the Korean Nursing Delirium Scale (Nu-DESC) for older patients in hospital.

The Korean Nu-DESC was developed based on the Nu-DESC (Gaudreau, 2005), and revised according to nursing records related to signs and symptoms of older patients with delirium (n=361) and the results of a pilot study (n=42) in one general hospital. To test the validity of the Korean Nu-DESC, 75 older patients whom nurses suspected of delirium from 731 older patients from 12 nursing units were assessed by bedside nurses using the Korean Nu-DESC. A Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve of the Korean Nu-DESC was constructed with an accompanying Area Under the Curve (AUC).

Specific examples such as irritable, kidding, sleeping tendency, which were observed by bedside nurses in Korea, were identified in the five features of signs and symptoms of delirium in the instrument. The Korean Nu-DESC was psycho-metrically valid and had a sensitivity and specificity of .81-.76 and .97-.73, respectively. The AUC were .89, .74.

Results of this study indicate that the Korean Nu-DESC is well-suited for widespread clinical use in busy inpatients settings and shows promise as a research instrument.

The purpose of this study was to test whether pre-operative visual information and parental presence had positive effects on anxiety, delirium, and pain in pediatric patients who awoke from general anesthesia in a post-surgical stage.

This study used a non equivalent control-group post test design (n=76). Independent variables were provision of pre-operative visual information and parental presence for post-surgical pediatric patients in PACU (post anesthesia care unit). Dependent variables were anxiety, delirium, and pain in the pediatric patients measured three times at 10 minute intervals after extubation in the PACU. Measurements included Numerical Rating Scale for assessing state anxiety, Pediatric Anesthesia Emergence Delirium Scale by Sikich & Lerman (2004) for delirium, and Objective Pain Scale by Broadman, Rice & Hannallah (1988) for pain.

Experimental group showed significantly decreased state anxiety at time points-10, 20, and 30 minutes after extubation. Delirium was significantly lower at 10 minutes and 30 minutes after extubation in the experimental group. Pain was significantly lower at 10 minutes after extubation in the experimental group.

The results of this study suggest that this intervention can be a safe pre-operative nursing intervention for post-surgical pediatric patients at PACU.

The purpose of this survey was to investigate clinical nurses' understanding of delirium and their educational need of delirious patient care.

A survey questionnaire regarding nurses' general perception and understanding of delirium, experience with delirious patients and educational need was developed and conducted with 179 clinical nurses in a university hospital in Seoul. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Nurses thought that delirium was one of the most important nursing problems and they considered it to be more treatable than to be preventable. However, the majority of nurses were not confident in caring for delirious patients. Nurses reported that delirium happened most often after surgery, and that possible contributing factors could be changes in physical environment and anxiety/stress, as well as medication and long-term isolation. Thirteen nursing interventions were identified but half of the nurses utilized only one or two of the thirteen. The most frequently used intervention was reorienting the patient followed by medication and emotional support, presenting family, and close observation. 99.5% of nurses addressed the importance of professional education on delirium care, especially in the area of intervention and management.

The results support the strong need for development of a multi-component educational program on delirium care.