Delirium Clinical Care Standard

The Delirium Clinical Care Standard provides guidance on delivering appropriate clinical care to patients at risk of developing, or with, delirium in hospital.

The Delirium Clinical Care Standard was launched in July 2016 by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC). The standard and accompanying resources provide guidance to consumers, clinicians and health services on delivering appropriate clinical care to patients at risk of developing, or with, delirium in hospital.

Delirium is an acute change in mental status that is common among older people in hospital. It is characterised by a disturbance of consciousness, attention, cognition and perception that develops over a short period of time (usually hours to a few days) and is a serious condition associated with increased risk of harm (ACSQHC 2016).

What’s included?

The Delirium Clinical Care Standard is accompanied by a set of indicators to support clinical teams and health services to identify and address areas that require improvement at a local level and monitor implementation of the quality statements in the standard.

The resources include a clinician fact sheet, consumer fact sheet, supporting evidence sources, and a delirium poster which can be used to promote and explain what the Standard means to health services, clinicians, patients and their carers.

Download the standards

The Standard, indicators and resources are available for free download at: safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/clinical-care-standards/delirium-clinical-care-standard

• The Delirium Clinical Care Standard complements the following initiatives, led by the ACSQHC, to improve the care of patients with cognitive impairment:
• The Caring for Cognitive Impairment Campaign cognitivecare.gov.au
• A Better Way To Care: Safe And High Quality Care For Patients With Cognitive Impairment (Dementia And Delirium) In Hospital – a handbook for health services, clinicians and consumers safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/cognitive-impairment/better-way-to-care

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• advice
• aged care
• dementia
• professional carers
• treatment options

Reference: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2016) Delirium Clinical Care Standard