Implementation of an Educational Guide to Improve ICU Delirium Awareness and Detection

Intensive care unit (ICU) delirium is a prevalent condition that can occur in up to 80% of critical care patients. It can increase hospital length of stay, morbidity rates, and recovery time. It can also demand higher costs for care and long-term effects on the patient. A good practice statement, issued by the Society of Critical Care Medicine, acknowledges the importance of delirium awareness (Devlin, 2018). For ICU nurses, educational approaches of ICU delirium have shown significant increases in delirium awareness and detection. The purpose of this project was to determine if an evidenced-based education program on delirium would improve awareness of ICU nurses in a setting that does not currently monitor delirium. (Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2016).

Participating nurses at a level III trauma center in Knoxville, Tennessee, received an online delirium education module, which included ICU delirium definition, etiology, risk factors, and how to screen delirium with the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU) tool (Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2016). They were then tested on the material immediately following the education bundle and then 1-month later. Data was analyzed with a paired sample T test and descriptive statistics using SPSS software. Results of the pre-test were undetermined due to technical difficulties. There was no significant change found from immediate post-test to the 1-month post-test, indicating an adequate retainment of knowledge.