Kean Jacob, Ryan Karen
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, 200 South Jordan Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
J Psychosom Res. 2008 Sep;65(3):255-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.05.024.
Delirium is underrecognized clinically. Many tools have been developed to assist with the diagnosis of delirium, and they vary greatly in purpose, quality, and administration time. It is suggested that future development of delirium assessment instruments be guided by a dichotomization of raters into expert and nonexpert groups. Careful consideration of the needs of the two groups suggests that assessment instruments designed for nonexperts should be entirely objective, whereas those instruments developed for experts should include the full range of constructs associated with the syndrome. This conceptualization is explored in detail, and existing assessment instruments are considered briefly in light of this position.
