Background: Delirium is a common acute disorder that is costly and can be fatal if not recognized early. Healthcare professionals are often not comfortable assessing for delirium or do not have adequate knowledge for delirium prevention. Delirium assessment tools if used by knowledgeable healthcare professionals can help to prevent delirium. Currently Saint Alphonsus in Ontario, Oregon does not have a standardized delirium assessment tool for the nursing staff to use on patients. EBP Framework: The evidence-based practice model that was used in the implementation of this intervention was the Stevens Star Model of Knowledge Transformation. In conjunction, the Virginia Henderson’s Need Theory was used as the theoretical model. Methods: The objective of the delirium protocol implementation was to increase nursing understanding and comfort with assessing for delirium. Outcomes were measured based on the results of a delirium pretest and posttest that looks at general nursing knowledge and comfort with delirium assessment. Evaluation of the intervention was based on outcomes being met with the potential for implementing the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist into everyday practice. Findings/Results: The first 15 questions of the pretest and posttest which assessed delirium knowledge, had P values between 0.08 and 1.00. The last five Likert scale questions had a P value of 0.0587. This result close to being statistically significant but it limited by the small sample size. Conclusion/Recommendations: Delirium is given low priory but with added nursing knowledge and comfort in delirium assessment positive patient outcomes can increase. This implementation project found that nursing staff comfort with delirium assessment improved after receiving delirium didactic training and using a standardized delirium assessment tool. Limitations of the project will be addressed if repeated. Future recommendations include implementing training on other healthcare professionals such as certified nursing assistants and respiratory therapist who direct patient care and would be able to observe subtle patient changes.
