2025/04/29 by Zineb Bouaouina, Mailhot, Tanya, Pariseau, Lysanne
#FOS: Health sciences #Medicine and Health Sciences #Nursing
paper · doi:10.17605/osf.io/6dzf4
Delirium is a frequent complication affecting approximately 30% of hospitalized older adults, leading to prolonged recovery and increased mortality risk. Individuals with delirium are temporarily incapacitated and often exhibit disruptive behaviors such as shouting, disorientation, and aggression, causing distress to themselves, their families, and healthcare staff. Patients report feelings of anxiety, fear, and shame, while families express feelings of helplessness, and healthcare staff often feel ill-equipped to manage these situations. Family participation in the prevention, detection, and management of delirium is a key strategy promoted by clinical guidelines to reduce the severity and consequences of delirium. However, despite its recognized importance, family engagement is not routinely integrated into standard care, and healthcare providers acknowledge that families remain an underused resource. Paradoxically, patients and families express the need for more information and open communication regarding delirium, yet this topic remains stigmatized and difficult to address in clinical settings. Currently, there is a lack of tools tailored to support communication between healthcare providers, patients, and families about delirium. Our goal within the larger research project is: What measures could help healthcare staff manage a hospitalized patient's delirium, both in supporting the patient clinically and in assisting their family? The first step in this research project is to conduct a scoping review to acheive these specific aims: I. What are the measures used to support the needs of families, patients and healthcare professionals in contexts of delirium in hospitalized adult patients? II. What are the burdens experienced by families, patients and healthcare professionals during episodes of delirium in hospitalized adult patients?