Delirium in older people in hospital: an education programme.

ABSTRACT

AIM: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of an educational programme on the identification and management of delirium by nurses in the medical wards of a tertiary care hospital in South India. METHOD: A non-equivalent controlled pre- and post-intervention research design was used. The sample size of nurses through convenient sampling was 15 in the experimental group and 17 in the comparison group. A questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge of nurses and an observation checklist was used to assess practice. The Confusion Assessment METHOD ( Inouye et al, 1990 ) was used to detect delirium among older people who were hospitalised. Data collection was carried out over a 6-week period. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in the knowledge (p<0.001) and practice (p<0.003) of nurses in the experimental group following the educational programme.