Delirium Screening

Delirium is an acute disturbance in attention and awareness that develops over a short period, usually hours to days, and typically fluctuates through the day. Attention is the capacity to direct, focus and sustain mental effort, and awareness is the patient's clear connection to the environment. When both are disturbed, every other cognitive function built on them (memory, orientation, speech, judgement) falters, which is why the patient looks globally confused. The brain is not failing on its own. Delirium is almost always the visible sign of an underlying medical condition, a medication effect, substance intoxication or withdrawal, or several of these acting together. That is the central nursing idea: new confusion is a change in neurological status that points to a cause, and the nurse's job is to find and treat that cause while keeping the patient safe. It is not simply a behavioural problem, it is not a normal consequence of ageing, and it should not be assumed to be dementia. The core features are acute onset, a fluctuating course, impaired attention, altered awareness, cognitive changes, possible perceptual disturbances...