Published in:
01-12-2013 | What's New in Intensive Care
The accurate recognition of delirium in the ICU: the emperor’s new clothes?
Authors:
John W. Devlin, Gilles L. Fraser, Aaron M. Joffe, Richard R. Riker, Yoanna Skrobik, The Can delirium Assessments Be Accurately Labelled (CABAL) Investigators group
Published in:
Intensive Care Medicine
|
Issue 12/2013
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Excerpt
Delirium among critically ill patients has been vigorously investigated over the last decade. Publications have addressed its diagnostic criteria, risk factors, prevention and treatment strategies and outcomes. Screening for a diagnosis of delirium in mechanically ventilated patients has been reported using the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) and the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU), with both now being recommended for routine use in the ICU [
1]. These tools are important and are thought to aid clinicians in identifying delirium in patients in whom it might otherwise go unrecognized [
2]. However, a number of recent reports should temper the unequivocal endorsement of delirium diagnosis in the ICU using a tool-based approach. …