NURSING 2LA2 Lecture Notes - Central Venous Catheter, Morphine, Interleukin 2
Document Summary
*areas in italics are portions dictated throughout module. Common, life threatening and potentially preventable clinical syndrome, induced by a variety of physical causes. Often defined as an acute decline in the cognitive processes of the brain, namely attention and cognition. Most strongly associated with hospitalized patients 65 years of age and older. Patients with delirium may exhibit periods of inattention, disorganized thinking, changes in loc, disorientation, delusions, perceptual disturbances, as well as impaired memory, speech, sleep, and psychomotor activity. These changes in cognitive function can fluctuate in severity throughout the day and as such, delirium is often under-recognized and under-treated. Estimated that 2/3 of patients go unreported. This can be attributed to the syndromes fluctuating nature and the wide range of symptoms and patient characteristics associated with the syndrome. Some clinicians continue to use the term confusional state or encephalopathy, when diagnosing delirium, further complicating the proper identification, management and treatment of this life- threatening syndrome.