Quality Improvement in Delirium Health Literacy in Older Adult Patients and Their Caregivers Attending a Geriatric Clinic

• Published in: Clinical interventions in aging 2022-01, Vol.17, p.1901-1906
• Main Authors: Azhar, Gohar, Sharma, Shakshi, Lau, Onna, Alkharisi, Bader, Anandam, Anil, Isa, Sakiru, Mendiratta, Priya, Pangle, Amanda K, Coker, Karen, Wei, Jeanne
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Aged; Aged patients; Aging; Care and treatment; Caregivers; Caregivers - education; Chemotherapy; Chi-square test; Cognitive ability; Delirium; Delirium - diagnosis; Delirium - prevention & control; Dementia; education; Etiology; Evaluation; Geriatrics; Graduate students; Health education; Health Literacy; healthcare; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Knowledge; Older people; Original Research; Prevention; Quality Improvement; Response rates; Risk factors; Surveys
• ISSN: 1178-1998; 1176-9092; 1178-1998
• DOI: 10.2147/cia.s388325

Delirium is a common medical condition that is highly prevalent in older adults who are at increased risk for its development with any illness, post-surgery or during hospitalization. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the health literacy of older adult patients and their caregivers about delirium, offer a brief educational intervention, and reevaluate their knowledge post intervention. We conducted a quality improvement project, focused on delirium health literacy in older adult patients ≥60 years and their caregivers. Delirium knowledge of participants was evaluated in a pre-education survey after which they were given a delirium education booklet to read. A post-education delirium survey was conducted within 2-3 weeks of the educational intervention. Chi-square test was used to analyze the knowledge base of older adults. The study population consisted of a total of 70 older adults who participated in pre-education (n=35) and post-education (n=35) surveys. Older adult patients and their caregivers had significant knowledge gaps about the potential causes or etiologies, risk factors, symptomatology, and prevention of delirium in the pre-education survey. After the educational intervention, in the post-education survey, there were overall improvements in knowledge base of older adults in differentiating delirium with dementia (43% vs 94%, p