Delirium Assessment Tools for Use in Critically Ill Adults: A Psychometric Analysis and Systematic Review
Critical Care Nurse
Gélinas, C., Bérubé, M., et al. (2018).
Critical Care Nurse, 38(1), 38-49.
<div>This systematic review explores the effectiveness of various delirium screening tools for use in critically ill adult patients in the intensive care unit. Of note, although speech-language pathologists (SLPs) do not diagnose delirium, SLPs may administer delirium screening tools as part of a multidisciplinary effort to prevent and manage delirium.</div>
Not stated
January 1996 to December 2014
<div>Peer-reviewed articles</div>
36
<div>The following psychometric findings were reported for delirium screening tools for use in critically ill adults in the intensive care unit: </div>
<ul>
<li>the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) demonstrated very good psychometric properties (sensitivity: .47-1.00, specificity: .81-1.00),</li>
<li>the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) demonstrated very good psychometric properties (sensitivity: .64-.99, specificity: .61-.88),</li>
<li>the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (NuDESC) demonstrated moderate psychometric properties(sensitivity and specificity greater than .80),</li>
<li>the Delirium Detection Score (DDS) demonstrated low psychometric qualities (sensitivity: .30- .69, specificity: .75-.91), and</li>
<li>the Cognitive Test for Delirium (CTD) demonstrated very low psychometric qualities due to a lack of reporting of content validation, interrater reliability, predictive validation, feasibility, and other validation testing (sensitivity: .95- 1.00, specificity: .95-.99). </li>
</ul>
<div>Limitations to this review included small sample sizes, weaknesses in criterion validation, and potential for risk of bias. Further research is indicated.</div>
