Abstract
Delirium is associated with increased mortality, morbidity, and length of hospital stay. In the acute stroke setting, delirium identification is challenging due to the complexity of cognitive screening in this patient group. The aim of this study was to explore how members of interprofessional stroke-unit teams identified and responded to a potential delirium in a patient. Online focus groups and interviews utilizing case vignettes were conducted with 15 participants: nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, and physiotherapists working in acute stroke services. Participants’ understandings of delirium varied, most participants did not identify the symptoms of a possible hypoactive delirium, and nearly all participants discussed delirium symptoms in tentative terms. Aspects of interprofessional working were discussed through the expression of distinct roles around delirium identification. Although participants demonstrated an ethos of person-focused care, there are ongoing challenges involved in early identification and management of delirium in stroke survivors.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 137-147 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Qualitative Health Research |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 24 Sept 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2021 |
Keywords
- acute stroke
- constructivist grounded theory
- delirium
- focus groups
- interprofessional care
- qualitative
- Scotland
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Documents and Links
- Carin-Levy, G. et al (2021) Identifying and responding to delirium in acute stroke: clinical team members’ understandings
© The Author(s) 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).