Using language descriptors to recognise delirium: a survey of clinicians and medical coders to identify delirium-suggestive words

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To develop a library of delirium-suggestive words. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Single tertiary referral hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Medical, nursing and allied health staff and medical coders. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequency of graded response on a 5-point Likert scale to individual delirium-suggestive words. RESULTS: Two-hundred and three complete responses were received from 227 survey respondents; the majority were medical and nursing staff (42.4% and 43.8% respectively), followed by allied health practitioners and medical coders (10.3% and 3.4%). Words that were "very likely" to suggest delirium were "confused/ confusion", "delirious", "disoriented/disorientation" an..