ICU delirium
The article I chose discussed the topic of the prevalence and risk factors that contribute to post-op delirium in the cardiovascular intensive care units (ICUs). The findings of the article were based on a one year period of ICU patients in a hospital in Taiwan. Based on the research, about 42% of patients experienced delirium, which I thought was astronomical given that delirium should not be happening as often as nearly 1 out of 2 patients. There were four major post-op factors that this study found to be significant in making patients more susceptible to delirium, and they included: cardiogenic shock, hematocrit less than 30%, low albumin, and acute infection. Per the article, delirium was defined as acute confusion manifested by: disorientation, hallucinations, delusions, and speech that does not make sense. The reason I found this article interesting was because according to the article, the statistics show that delirium increases mortality rates by 30%. Furthermore, I also found it interesting that the article mentioned that delirium remains unrecognized in 66-84% of the patients, which implies that there needs to be more training regarding how to recognize symptoms of delirium.
I agree with the article that delirium is a serious issue and that needs to be readily recognizable, because it may lead to death. The next steps that are needed, in order to further this study is to teach and implement protocols that help ICU RNs recognize symptoms of delirium in order to take precautions to provide patient safety. The next immediate step would be to teach nurses to identify signs and symptoms of delirium and identify the postoperative factors that may cause delirium, and treat the patient for these factors. Also, there were other factors that were in common with people that experienced delirium such as: single or divorced individual, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, psychological disorders, stroke, and renal disease among other comorbidities.
Chang, Y., Yung, T., Lin, P., Chen, C., & Liu, C. (2008). Prevalence and risk factors for post-
Operative delirium in a cardiovascular intensive care unit. American Journal of Critical
Care. (17) 6.
or
