Elsevier

Psychosomatics

Volume 58, Issue 6, November–December 2017, Pages 594-603
Psychosomatics

Original Research Report
Validation of a Nurse-Based Delirium-Screening Tool for Hospitalized Patients

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2017.05.005Get rights and content

Background

Guidelines recommend daily delirium monitoring of hospitalized patients. Available delirium-screening tools have not been validated for use by nurses among diverse inpatients.

Objective

We sought to validate the Nursing Delirium-Screening Scale (Nu-DESC) under these circumstances.

Methods

A blinded cross-sectional and quality-improvement study was conducted from August 2015–February 2016. Nurses׳ Nu-DESC scores were compared to delirium diagnosis according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) criteria.

A total of 405 consecutive hospitalized patients were included. Nu-DESC-positive (threshold score ≥2) patients were matched with equal numbers of Nu-DESC-negative patients, by sex, age, and nursing unit.

Nurses recorded a Nu-DESC score for each patient on every 12-hour shift. A Nu-DESC-blinded evaluator interviewed patients for 2 consecutive days. Delirium diagnosis was determined by physicians using DSM-5 criteria applied to collected research data. Sensitivity and specificity of the Nu-DESC were calculated. In an exploratory analysis, the performance of the Nu-DESC was analyzed with the addition of bedside measures of attention.

Results

The sensitivity of the Nu-DESC at a threshold of ≥2 was 42% (95% CI: 33–53%). Specificity was 98% (97–98%). At a threshold of ≥1, sensitivity was 67% (52–80%) and specificity 93% (90–95%). Similar results were found with the addition of attention tasks.

Conclusion

The Nu-DESC is a specific delirium detection tool, but it is not sensitive at the usually proposed cut point of ≥2. Using a threshold of ≥1 or adding a test of attention increase sensitivity with a minor decrease in specificity.

Key words

inpatient delirium screening
Nu-DESC
nursing delirium screen.

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