Instruments for Delirium Assessment Regarding to Analgesia Sedation and Ventilator Status

Instruments for Delirium Assessment Regarding to Analgesia Sedation and Ventilator Status

In this prospective, multicenter observational study we assess the diagnostic validity of the following standard screening instruments for delirium regarding sedation, analgesia and ventilator status in critically ill patients:

• Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU)
• Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC)
• Nursing-Delirium-Screening-Scale (Nu-DESC)

The definite delirium diagnosis (definite in terms of reference standard) is made according to the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition, text revised (DSM-IV-TR) published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) which is the Gold Standard to diagnose delirium.

Primary research question: Does sedation, ventilator status and analgesia influence the sensitivity of delirium screening tools (DST)?

Inclusion Criteria:

• Critically ill patient
• Patient age > 18 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• Neurosurgical patients
• Severe brain injury, intracerebral bleeding, stroke
• Inability to communicate due to anacusia or severe hearing loss
• Insufficient language comprehension
• Patients < 24 h total time of Intensive Care Unit stay
• Deep sedation (RASS < -3) for ≥ 7 days during study participation