Incidence and Related Factors of Acute Confusion among the Medical Hospitalized Elderly

Abstract

”Acute confusion,” alias delirium, is a clinical phenomenon commonly found among hospitalized elders. If not corrected in time, it will increase mortality, prolong the number of days of hospitalization, and increase nursing workload. The goals of this study were to understand the incidence and related factors of acute confusion among the medical hospitalized elderly. By using the Acute Confusion Behavior Scale as an instrument, three-shift nurses performed a 24-hour continuingly monitoring and recording. It showed that there were 671 patients in twelve medical and general wards. Among them, 16 patients were with acute confusion in hospitalization in 85 patients who were qualified after screening. The incidence of acute confusion was 18.8%. The onset of acute confusion was from the first hospitalized day to the following day and there were no new findings of acute confusion after the seventh day of hospitalization. The features of acute confusion were much more obvious at midnight from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Participants with hearing and visual impairment had greater incidence of acute confusion. The laboratory findings did not associate with acute confusion. Acutely confused patients had really different behaviors compared to non-confused patients. Our study is helpful to elevate nurses' sensibility to detect high-risk group with acute confusion which will enable them to recognize acute confusion as soon as possible and intervene correctly for prevention or treatment of acute confusion.