Is It Dementia or Delirium?

“...By some estimates, 80% of elderly intensive-care patients develop the condition, which frequently leads to nursing home stays and a hastened death.

"Unfortunately, delirium is often a spiral downhill," says Dr. Sharon K. Inouye, a Yale geriatrician and leading delirium researcher. "Because people are so fragile at that age, it's like a house of cards."

The article goes on to examine some of the drugs used, some tests that can be given to patients to keep an eye out for delirium, and some of the hospital environments that may contribute to this dementia-like response to an ICU stay.

Other studies and articles I’ve read have stressed the fact that we must lessen the “hospital atmosphere.” Does this sound familiar? Good nursing facilities are working toward that very goal. Plants, animals, music, home-like settings. Obviously a hospital can’t allow Fido to run the hallways, but they can change the way their dinging bells, intercoms and other machinery overtake the environment.

One of our local hospitals recently put millions of dollars into redesigning their children’s wing, to make it a wonderland. Yes, it’s a hospital and unpleasant things happen. However, medical people realize that children need to have an environment that is as soothing as possible.

Get rid of as much of the scariness of the environment, enrich their imaginations in a positive way, and you will have a child that gets well more quickly.

Wouldn’t this make sense with elders? If hospitals could make more of an effort to soften the surroundings of an elder, during a hospital stay; if they could have bulletin boards near beds so families could post pictures and familiar objects; perhaps paint the rooms a soothing color and have quiet music if the patients want that; allow a family member or friend to sleep on a cot nearby - who knows?

Along with watching drug combinations and training staff to be attentive, keeping the elder engaged mentally, rather than letting him or her lie in terror, created by their thoughts – maybe we’d find that some of this dementia that occurs after a hospital stay is delirium that could be avoided, or at the very least, lessened. Could it hurt to give hospitalized elders the same consideration we do hospitalized children? It’s something to consider.

To learn more about Carol, please go to www.mindingourelders.com or www.mindingoureldersblogs.com.