DELIRIUM IN HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS: ANALYSIS OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENTS AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS AND NURSES

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Delirium is an acute-onset neuropsychiatric disorder with a fluctuating course that affects attention, consciousness, thinking, perception, memory, and behavior. It has a high prevalence among patients who present to hospital units, especially the elderly. It interferes with morbidity and mortality, increases the length of hospital stay, and causes functional and cognitive decline in the short and long term. Studies show that knowledge about delirium has an impact on interdisciplinary professional practice. The objective of the research was to identify and analyze the knowledge of students and professionals, nurses and physicians, about delirium in hospitalized patients. METHODS: This was a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study, with the application of a sociodemographic questionnaire and a Likert scale on delirium knowledge and management, in which the participants were expected to fully agree with the literature. The data were analyzed in correlation, the association between the pattern of responses was obtained using the chi-square test (X2). A significance level of 5% was adopted. RESULTS: A sample of 168 participants was obtained, 87 students (51.79%) and 81 professionals (48.21%). Overall, 143 (85.12%) indicated yes, and 25 (14.88%) declared that they did not know how to recognize delirium. However, in the knowledge and management questionnaire, the assertion of the highest total agreement with the literature was below this expectation, with 71.43%, and the lowest with 18.56%. There was a significant difference (P<0.05) between the pattern of answers of totally or partially agreeing with the statements. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated a lack of knowledge among the participants and that interventions in academic training and professional practice are necessary to improve the management of delirium in hospitalized patients.