We designed an intervention to promote better
prevention, detection and management of delirium in care homes for
older people. In designing the intervention, we included not only
what's known about preventing delirium, but also what's known about
influencing and changing practice. We involved care home staff from the
outset in design and delivery of the intervention to ensure relevance
and ownership.
The intervention was successfully implemented in all care homes and
it was acceptable to care home staff. The direct cost over 10 months was
£33,502. Key facilitators included minimising demands on staff time,
flexibility of approach, and securing ownership and support from home
managers.
We found preliminary evidence supporting changes in
staff attitudes and practice, with significant improvements in staff
confidence in delirium care. Although the study was not powered to
demonstrate effectiveness, (and qualitative data suggested it was too
early to expect change at this stage), we found preliminary evidence
supporting improvement in resident outcomes e.g hospital admissions and
A&E attendance.
Download a copy of the Full Report from the Stop Delirium project pages