Delirium screening practice in specialist palliative care units: A survey

Woodhouse, Rebecca; Siddiqi, Najma; Boland, Jason W.; Featherstone, Imogen; Johnson, Miriam J.

Abstract

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Objectives: Delirium is common and distressing in palliative care settings. This survey aims to describe current practice regarding delirium identification in specialist palliative care units (SPCU), such as inpatient hospices, in the UK. Methods: An 18-item anonymous online survey was distributed by Hospice UK to their network of clinical leads (n=223), and to their research mailing list (n=228). The survey was also sent to the chair of the Hospice UK executive clinical leads forum for direct dissemination to forum representatives (n=20). Clinical leads and forum representatives were asked to distribute the survey to healthcare staff in their SPCUs. Results: 220 SPCU staff (48% nurses; 31% doctors; 10% healthcare assistants) completed the survey. Approximately half reported using clinical judgement alone to screen (97/204; 48%) and/or diagnose (124/220; 56%) delirium. Over a third used an assessment tool to screen for delirium (76/204; 37%). The majority (150/220; 68%) reported screening in response to clinical symptoms, while few reported routine on-admission (11/220; 5%) or daily-during-admission (12/220; 6%) screening. Most respondents had received some training on delirium (137/220; 62%). However, 130/220 (59%) said their SPCU did not have a training programme for delirium screening and only 79/220 (36%) reported that their SPCU had delirium clinical guidelines. The main barriers to routine screening included: lack of delirium training, lack of guidelines and complexity of patient's conditions. Conclusion: There is variation in practice for delirium screening and diagnosis in SPCUs. Clinical guidelines for delirium, including consensus on which screening tools to use, are needed for this setting.

Citation

Woodhouse, R., Siddiqi, N., Boland, J. W., Featherstone, I., & Johnson, M. J. (in press). Delirium screening practice in specialist palliative care units: A survey. BMJ supportive & palliative care, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2020-002251

• Journal Article Type: Review
• Acceptance Date: Apr 27, 2020
• Online Publication Date: May 15, 2020
• Deposit Date: Apr 28, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 15, 2020
• Journal: BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care
• Print ISSN: 2045-435X
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-4368
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2020-002251
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3501552
• Publisher URL: https://spcare.bmj.com/content/early/2020/05/15/bmjspcare-2020-002251