Relevant guidelines
Several guidelines and resources have been developed to provide advice to health professionals in caring for older people with or developing confusion.
Practice guidelines
- Key Principles for Care of Confused Hospitalised Older Persons: This document describes the CHOPs program’s seven Key Principles for the appropriate care of older people with confusion in hospital.
- Clinical Factsheet - Delerium Clinical Care Standard: The Delirium Clinical Care Standard (2021) was developed and published by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC), a national government agency responsible for leading improvements in the safety and quality of health care across Australia. It is a nationally endorsed standard that provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance for health services and clinicians to deliver high-quality, consistent care for patients at risk of or experiencing delirium.
- NICE guideline – Delirium: Diagnosis, prevention and management: UK National Institute for Care and Health Excellence (NICE) guideline covering the care of adults (18 and over) with, or at risk of, delirium in hospital and in long-term residential care or a nursing home.
- NICE guideline – Dementia: Supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care: UK National Institute for Care and Health Excellence (NICE) guideline provides recommendations for the identification, treatment and care of people with dementia and the support of carers.
Care pathways and resources
- A better way to care (second edition): Safe and high-quality care for patients with cognitive impairment or at risk of delirium in acute health services: The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has developed this resource describing a pathway to improve the early recognition of, and response to, patients with cognitive impairment to reduce harm and ensure they receive safe and high-quality care. The resource is for clinicians and for each step of the pathway there are actions clinicians can take to improve care for their patients with cognitive impairment.
Other resources to support practice
- Best Care for Older People Everywhere: The Toolkit: Toolkit developed by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to assist health services identify tools and resources that can assist them in improving care for older people in hospital and throughout the patient's journey through the care continuum, and assist clinical staff to minimise the functional decline of older people in hospital.
- The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP): Website for a US patient care program that aims to ensure optimal care for older adults in the hospital by preventing delirium and loss of functioning.