Prevention and monitoring of delirium in older adults: an educational intervention

Abstract

Objective: to conduct an educational intervention with the nursing team members of an intensive care unit (ICU), aiming to increase knowledge and to introduce improvements in their practices regarding prevention and monitoring of delirium in older patients.

Method: this is an action research, in which workshops were conducted with eleven nurses and a nursing technician from an ICU unit in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Results: ten problems regarding nursing practices for prevention and monitoring of delirium were identified. Educational, practical, technical, and managerial actions were planned, involving cross-sector connections for planning ways to solve these problems. The groups reported significant changes in the practices, with the implementation of drug-free measures for preventing and managing the situation.

Conclusion: the educational intervention contributed to improve the nursing practices in the ICU unit studied, and it also favored the development of critical thinking about the problems mentioned, thus enabling permanent review of offered treatments.