Am thrilled to notice today that Jane Brody wrote about delirium in the NYTimes this week!
Which makes me think of a question for my colleagues who care for frail elderly families:
What are your favorite patient education materials on delirium?
I ask because although we know that delirium is just SO essential to prevent, recognize, and evaluate, it’s one of those key problems that many lay caregivers know nothing about.
This is a shame because caregivers are often the ones best positioned to notice if an older person is not his or her usual self. As we know, delirium can be the only outward sign of a life-threatening medical problem, including the silent heart attacks mentioned in the New Old Age blog today.
So, how can we bring caregivers up to speed on this essential geriatric topic, short of repeatedly spending time explaining delirium in clinic visits? (And remember, any tool or tech that saves us time frees up our geriatric expertise to do more.)
Here’s the patient education technology that I’ve tried so far:
- The Dementia and Delirium Solution Center at Caring.com. (Disclaimer: I created most of this content but make no money if you click on it or use it.) This has not been a huge hit for the site, since caregivers generally don’t know to search for information on delirium, but I do refer my own patients to it. I especially like the article we created on “What Doctors Should Evaluate When Someone with Dementia Becomes Delirious,” although I don’t know really how helpful it’s been, since my leaving academia means I no longer do research. I’ve also written many FAQs on delirium for Caring.com.
- The compelling story approach: I blogged about my own father’s delirium back when I tried using stories to help caregivers learn key geriatric principles.
- UpToDate.com’s patient information page on delirium. The content is ok, although my experience has been that even the educated patients can’t get through the “Beyond-the-Basics” articles most of the time, because they are quite long.
What about you, colleagues? What have you found works really well for helping patients and caregivers understand delirium? Share your insights in the comments and earn my undying gratitude.
