Bosch, "Cutting the Stone", c. 1500: a quack removes the "stone of madness". One operation, sanity restored. The fantasy survives: one scan, one pill. Delirium care has no stone. It is many small things done well. #delirium #art

🧠 Delirium affects around 1 in 4 older people in hospital, yet in my experience most families have never heard the word until it happens to their loved one 💁‍♀️ So I have built a free website for families and carers: DELIRIUM SUPPORT (.com) It explains, in plain English, what delirium is, how it differs from dementia, what to do, and how families can help. There are also free one-page guides to print for the ward. Free to use and share. 💡 If you are trying to educate families about delirium, you might find this website useful, and I would be grateful if you would consider pointing them to it. ➡️ Link to the website in the comments - and any feedback or suggestions are welcome!

⚠️ 3 days until the first CMS Age-Friendly Hospital Measure attestation (May 15). Domain 3 requires validated screening for cognitive impairment AND delirium in patients 65+. ✅ The 4AT covers both. ~2 mins. No training. Free. the4AT.com #delirium #patientsafety

🙁 "Nobody told me or my family about delirium during my whole time in the hospital. Not the doctors, nurses, support workers - no one mentioned it." -- Delirium survivor ⭐ Communication with patients & families about the diagnosis of delirium is ESSENTIAL for good care.

83-year-old lady in medical ward with pneumonia. No delirium on assessment. But when asking about delirium symptoms, the lady vividly recalls a strange episode a few weeks before when she had been admitted for a rib fracture. She said she completely changed, that she was seeing ants walking on the walls and curtains and was very frightened. She said her daughters had told the surgeon that this wasn't their mother. She said she had this episode because of being given a drug but she couldn't remember the name of it. She said she felt very ashamed that she was behaving differently and still feels shaken up by this experience. Looking back through the records it looks like she was given pregabalin for two days and this was the cause. But no mention of delirium in the notes. The family were not informed other than the drug had caused a reaction. Many such cases, of course. But what really bothers me about this is the lack of clear communication to the lady herself and the family. They have been left with this lingering sense of what was a very disturbing event, without a clear explanation and with ongoing questions. The lady herself still wonders if she was going 'doolally' - a locally-used slang term meaning mad. She was very reassured by an explanation of what happened including use of the word delirium. She also really appreciated being given a leaflet on delirium and said she would give this to her daughters. Let's do better! Call it delirium, tell the patient, tell the family, and give them written information. EVERY TIME.