Degree Name
Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
Document Type
Major Paper
School
School of Nursing
Department
Nursing
Date of Original Version
2021
Abstract
Delirium, recognized as a medical and psychological emergency, is a symptom of an acute medical condition. Despite the prevalence of delirium in the hospital setting, it continues to be unrecognized, resulting in poor patient outcomes, and exorbitant healthcare cost. Patients with dementia who are chronically ill, as well as patients previously diagnosed with delirium, represent a vulnerable population and require closer surveillance due to their predisposing factors. This quality improvement project goal is to increase nurses’ knowledge and understanding of delirium. This was completed through providing education to medical-surgical nurses on the causes of delirium (predisposing and precipitating factors), prevention, use of the confusion assessment method (CAM) screening tool, and detection of delirium. The change in knowledge was measure through an investigator created, 10-question multiple choice, pretest-posttest measurement model.
Of the 58 nurses, nine responded and completed the pretest (N=9, 15.5%), while seven
completed the educational intervention posttest (N=7, 12%). Results of the quality
improvement project yielded a 22.1% increase in nurses’ knowledge after the educational
intervention. Despite the low participation rate, this project revealed a positive correlation
between the educational intervention and nurses’ knowledge.
Recommended Citation
Deery, Kayla, "Nurses’ Knowledge on Delirium Prevention and Detection in Hospitalized Adults: A Quality Improvement Project" (2021). Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview. 378.
https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/etd/378
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