Cent Eur J Nurs Midw 2019, 10(4):1167-1178 | DOI: 10.15452/CEJNM.2019.10.0028

Delirium screening instruments administered by nurses for hospitalized patients - literature review

Blažena Ševčíková1,*, Hana Matějovská Kubešová2, Lenka Šáteková3, Elena Gurková3
1 Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic (student)
2 Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
3 Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic

Aim: The aim of the paper was to create a literature review of valid and reliable delirium screening instruments administered by nurses for hospitalized patients.

Design: Literature review.

Methods: An advanced search of three licensed electronic databases (EBSCO, MEDLINE, PROQUEST) was selected. Twenty-one research studies complied with the inclusion criteria.

Results: The predictive validity of ten delirium screening measuring tools were studied. The best predictive validity was found in the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-DESC), with sensitivity values ranging from 32% to 100%, and specificity from 83% to 100%, with highest value for reliability of 0.94. The Delirium Observation Screening Scale (DOS) came second, with sensitivity from 25% to 97%, and specificity from 89% to 98.4%, with highest value for reliability of 0.77. The 4AT tool had sensitivity values from 83.3% to 90%, and specificity from 84% to 86.3%, with highest value for reliability of 0.99.

Conclusion: The best screening tool for evaluating delirium by nurses was the Nu-DESC, followed by the DOS, and the 4AT. We recommend testing the predictive validity and reliability of selected screening tools administered by nurses in conditions of Czech clinical practice.

Keywords: adult, delirium, measuring instrument, nurse, psychometric properties, screening

Received: January 28, 2019; Accepted: September 30, 2019; Published: September 30, 2019  Show citation

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Ševčíková B, Matějovská Kubešová H, Šáteková L, Gurková E. Delirium screening instruments administered by nurses for hospitalized patients - literature review. Central European Journal of Nursing and Midwifery. 2019;10(4):1167-1178. doi: 10.15452/CEJNM.2019.10.0028.
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