Delirium Collaborative
Our goal
To reduce the severity and duration of hospital-acquired delirium in older people
Delirium is a serious medical condition where people experience sudden changes in their thinking, attention and memory, causing them to become confused, agitated or drowsy.
Usually lasting from a few days to weeks, it can lead to serious complications such as falls, pressure injuries, longer hospital admissions and sometimes death.
The best treatment for delirium is prevention – around 30-40 per cent of delirium cases that occur in hospital are preventable. However, delirium is not well detected by health professionals and is often misdiagnosed as dementia or depression.
Hospital workers from across Victoria used rapid Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to test and assess changes on the ward and identified successful changes to be implemented.
Our progress...
Completed March 2020
Progress and achievements
84%
increase in patients screened for delirium in the first 24 hours
18%
reduction in falls
480%
increase in patients with individualised care plans
Project updates
Delirium Collaborative
Screening for delirium – now a standard approach
Our first large-scale improvement partnership made screening for delirium in older patients part of our routine on admission. With impressive and wide-ranging results.
5 April 2022
Delirium Collaborative
Delirium: The starting point of 100,000 Lives
Victoria’s Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer Ann Maree Keenan takes us back to the ground-breaking research and resulting improvement initiative that started us towards 100,000 Lives.
5 April 2022
Resources
National Safety and Quality Health Service Comprehensive Care Standard
This Standard outlines the requirements for health services to review how to screen and assess patients and ensure care plans reflect their physical, mental and cognitive healthcare needs.
Preventing and managing delirium
Department of Health lists some of the ways we can help older people and their families and carers to understand, prevent and manage delirium.
Featured resource
Identifying delirium – screening and assessment
Department of Health has published these tools to improve how to recognise and diagnose delirium.
National Safety and Quality Health Service Comprehensive Care Standard
This Standard outlines the requirements for health services to review how to screen and assess patients and ensure care plans reflect their physical, mental and cognitive healthcare needs.
Preventing and managing delirium
Department of Health lists some of the ways we can help older people and their families and carers to understand, prevent and manage delirium.
Our stories
Clinicians profile
Discovering life’s routines helps prevent delirium
“We used to record people as ‘confused',” says nurse manager Sarah Jenkin. “Now we write delirium and take appropriate action to manage the condition.”
Who we worked with
Filter by
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Albury Wodonga Health
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Alfred Health
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Grampians Health
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Barwon Health
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Bendigo Health Care Group
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Central Gippsland Health Service
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Colac Area Health
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Corryong Health
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Eastern Health
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Goulburn Valley Health
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Latrobe Regional Hospital
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Melbourne Health
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Mercy Health
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Monash Health
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Northern Health
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Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
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Portland District Health
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South West Healthcare
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St Vincent’s Health
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West Gippsland Healthcare Group
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Western Health
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Last updated 24 June 2022