Delirium, a temporary mental disorder, is one of the major complications in caring for the frail elderly. Ten to forty percent of patients admitted to hospital are affected by this. They can suddenly be very confused, hallucinate, show different behavior and even swear. It can lead to a higher risk of death, less well functioning and nursing home admission. How should medical specialists, nurses, carers and nursing specialists act if they are confronted with this condition? This is described in the new multidisciplinary guidelines for these professional groups.
Knowledge institute advisor Marja Molag supervised this process and was interviewed about this by ZonMw, together with Robbert Gobbens, professor by special appointment at Tilburg University and lector Health and Welfare of frail elderly. Molag: ‘There was a great need for a guideline for nurses, carers and nursing specialists. A development process has been started for this purpose. Meanwhile, the Dutch Society for Clinical Geriatrics (NVKG) worked on an update of the Delirium guideline for medical specialists. These two processes ran simultaneously, which meant that good coordination was possible between the disciplines involved and that the two guidelines now fit in well with each other.’
The guidelines describe how the symptoms of delirium can be recognized, how to investigate what has triggered the delirium, what the difference is with dementia and what the treatment and aftercare look like.
Cooperation
The guideline for medical specialists was developed at the initiative of the Dutch Association for Clinical Geriatrics (NVKG), in collaboration with representatives from psychiatrists, geriatric internists, neurologists, hospital pharmacists, nurses, geriatric specialists, intensivists and the Patient Federation. The guideline for nurses, carers and nursing specialists was developed by Nurses & Caregivers Netherlands 9V&VN) in collaboration with the Netherlands Patient Federation.