Effect of Early Cognitive Stimulation Interventions on Delirium Among Critically Ill Patients

Overview

Delirium is an acute change in attention and awareness that develops over a relatively short time interval and associated with additional cognitive deficits such as memory deficit, disorientation, or perceptual disturbances. Delirium negative impact has been widely documented in the medical literature. It has been associated with increased mortality and morbidity, longer hospital stays, increase health care costs, and a longer duration of MV. Delirium in the ICU can be prevented and treated with a combination of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions. Cognitive interventions, as part of a delirium prevention strategy, are specific therapies focusing on the domains of cognitive functioning impacted by delirium such as orientation, attention, registration, recall and language. Cognitive stimulation interventions such as orienting patients to the date, time and place, visual and auditory stimulations that focused on specific domains (orientation and registration). In addition, cognitive stimulation included cognitive training and stimulation exercises that focus on specific domains (attention, language, recall, and registration) such as analyzing exercise, recalling exercise, and cognitive-training exercises by using mobile applications . The involvement of family members in the cognitive stimulation of critically ill patients is an underutilized resource that may benefit patients as well as gain a sense of control and purpose.

Nurses have direct contact with patients 24 hours a day, so they are in an ideal position to prevent, detect, manage, and care for patients who have delirium. The identification of predisposing or precipitating variables must be a part of the nursing intervention in order to reduce the likelihood of delirium occurring. When possible, nurses can help identify at-risk individuals and lower risk. Although a regular nursing assessment and good observational skills combined with a strong therapeutic relationship can enable nurses to recognize sudden changes in attention or consciousness, which are typical indications of delirium. Although the effects of cognitive stimulation interventions have been extensively studied in the prevention of delirium for ICU patients, there are few studies have implemented to assess its effects when it is applied early within the first 24 hours from ICU admission worldwide, and up to our knowledge there are no national studies that have been conducted to assess early effects of such interventions on delirium in ICU. Therefore, this study will be conducted to evaluate the effect of early cognitive stimulation interventions on delirium in critically ill patients.