Objective: To construct a new short nurses' rating scale for delirium severity.
Design: Cross-sectional study of elderly patients admitted to Medical Center Alkmaar, a general hospital in the Netherlands.
Materials and Methods: Delirium-o-meter (de Jonghe et al., 2002), Delirium Observation Scale (Schuurmans, 2001), Delirium Rating Scale-revised, Behavioral Observation Scale for Geriatric Inpatients (GIP-28, de Jonghe, 1997) MMSE, DSM-IV classification. Patients with delirium were assessed three times a day. Patients without delirium served as controls. Interrater agreement was evaluated using assessments of video-taped patients. Rating scales were correlated in order to establish validity.
Results: Kappa values >.60 indicated that the delirium-o-meter can be objectively scored. The Delirium-o-meter correlated highly with the DRS and DOS. Moreover, results show that it is sensitive to change. Patients with and without delirium differed significantly on the Delirium-o-meter.
Conclusion: The Delirium-o-meter is a new, practical nurses' rating scale. In this study of elderly patients, the Delirium-o-meter showed good reliability and sensitivity to change when measuring delirium severity.
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