A multifactorial intervention program reduces the duration of delirium, length of hospitalization, and mortality in delirious patients.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate whether an education program and a reorganization of nursing and medical care improved the outcome for older delirious patients.

DESIGN

Prospective intervention study.

SETTING

Department of General Internal Medicine, Sundsvall Hospital, Sweden.

PARTICIPANTS

Four hundred patients, aged 70 and older, consecutively admitted to an intervention or a control ward.

INTERVENTION

The intervention consisted of staff education focusing on the assessment, prevention, and treatment of delirium and on caregiver-patient interaction. Reorganization from a task-allocation care system to a patient-allocation system with individualized care.

MEASUREMENTS

The patients were assessed using the Organic Brain Syndrome Scale and the Mini-Mental State Examination on Days 1, 3, and 7 after admission. Delirium was diagnosed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria.

RESULTS

Delirium was equally common on the day of admission at the two wards, but fewer patients remained delirious on Day 7 on the intervention ward (n=19/63, 30.2% vs 37/62, 59.7%, P=.001). The mean length of hospital stay+/-standard deviation was significantly lower on the intervention ward then on the control ward (9.4+/-8.2 vs 13.4+/-12.3 days, P<.001) especially for the delirious patients (10.8+/-8.3 vs 20.5+/-17.2 days, P<.001). Two delirious patients in the intervention ward and nine in the control ward died during hospitalization (P=.03).

CONCLUSION

This study shows that a multifactorial intervention program reduces the duration of delirium, length of hospital stay, and mortality in delirious patients.