Comparison of delirium screening instruments for the elderly

Abstract

Purpose: This study was undertaken to identify which delirium screening instrument would be more useful in clinical practice. Methods: Data were collected from 118 nurses from six hospitals in five provinces in Korea. For the delirium screening three instruments were compared: NEECHAM Confusion Scale (NEECHAM), Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-DESC), Delirium Observation Scale (DOS). The MMSE-K was used for concurrent validity. The nurse subjects were surveyed as to the practical clinical value of each instrument. Cronbach's α coefficient and Kuder-Richardson 20 were used to confirm the reliability. Results: The range of three scales reliability was .70~.82 and the range of correlation coefficient was .63~.82 with MMSE-K. For sensitivity of NEECHAM, Nu-DESC and DOS was 1.00, 1.00 and 0.81 respectively and specificity NEECHAM, Nu-DESC and DOS was 0.88, 0.89 and 0.89 respectively. Nurses rated the practical use of the DOS scale as significantly easier to use than the NEECHAM and Nu-DESC. Conclusion: NEECHAM, Nu-DESC and DOS scales were acceptable in terms of reliability, validity, sensitivity and specificity. However, nurses rated the DOS scale as easier scale to use and had more relevance to their practice. © 2013 Korean Society of Adult Nursing.