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University of San Francisco

Delirium Education for Nurses on a Medical-Surgical Unit

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Failure to recognize delirium compromises patient safety and may lead to harmful outcomes. By June 2015, nurses on medical-surgical units will screen 100-percent of patients for delirium according to an established protocol. The project mesosystem is a 411-bed, level I trauma center and teaching hospital; the microsystem is a 28-bed medical-surgical telemetry unit.</p> <p>An audit of microsystem data collected over four months in 2014 revealed that delirium was consistently underidentified (10% in September, 26% in October, 34% in November, and 22% in December), suggesting that medical-surgical nurses were not equipped to effectively perform delirium screening.</p> <p>Nursing education consisting of bedside teaching, web-based learning, and use of training manuals created from evidence-based literature was scheduled from March through May. 100% of medical-surgical nurses completed the mandatory web-based delirium education video in March. Delirium “champions” were recruited to lead bedside training in May, and individual pocket cards featuring the CAM screening and nursing interventions were created and distributed to nurses.</p> <p>Follow-up surveys and random chart audits will promote nursing consistency in screening for delirium, documenting results in the EMR, implementing interventions, and collaborating with physicians. Survey and audit results will be evaluated and compared to the previous audit and national reported data in order to identify and correct gaps in the education process.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
Level thesis:degree_level
Project/Capstone - Global access
Year dc:date.available
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Santos, Carole
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Elena Capella
  • Melissa Vandeveer

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/114
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:repository.usfca.edu:capstone-1118

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of San Francisco
Base URL
repository.usfca.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Santos, Carole. Delirium Education for Nurses on a Medical-Surgical Unit. Project/Capstone - Global access thesis, 2015. https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/114