Effectiveness of a multidisciplinary comprehensive intervention model based on the Hospital Elderly Life Program to prevent delirium in patients with severe acute pancreatitis

Abstract

Background: Pancreatic encephalopathy is the most serious complication of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and substantially increases mortality. Delirium is a common clinical manifestation of pancreatic encephalopathy. This study aimed to assess the clinical effects of an improved version of the Hospital Elderly Life Program (HELP) on preventing delirium in elderly patients with SAP.

Methods: A total of 106 patients with SAP aged 70 years or older were randomly divided into an experimental group (53 cases) and a control group (53 cases). The experimental group was given 2 weeks of conventional nursing combined with the HELP regimen, while the control group was given 2 weeks of conventional nursing. Conventional nursing included disease care, geriatric syndrome care and observation of critically ill patients. The incidence of delirium, severity of delirium, self-care ability, cognitive function, length of hospital stay, and patient satisfaction were compared between the 2 groups before and after the intervention.

Results: The incidence of delirium was 4.00% in the experimental group and 16.98% in the control group; the difference was statistically significant (P=0.033). After 2 weeks of intervention, the experimental group showed significantly better self-care ability and cognitive function, shorter hospital stay, and greater patient satisfaction than the control group (all P<0.05).

Conclusions: The improved HELP protocol for elderly patients with SAP can reduce the incidence and severity of delirium, improve self-care ability and cognitive function, shorten hospital stay, and increase patient satisfaction.

Keywords: Pancreatitis; aged; cognitive function; delirium; geriatric nursing; self-care.