Delirium
As the population ages, it is imperative that medical students are prepared to treat older adults, regardless of their specialty.
Too much alcohol often causes trauma, complicates assessment of injury, and interferes with inpatient care. Even though 20 to 37 percent of accident cases in trauma centers are alcohol-related, some trauma patients are reluctant to self report their drinking.
(Boston, Mass) -- The way certain patients present in the post-acute hospital setting with delirium, a common, preventable but life-threatening acute confusional state, predicts mortality, according to a study conducted by the Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew SeniorLife.
A scary unknown for many children, the prospect of surgery can cause intense preoperative anxiety.
BOSTON -- Over the past 20 years, the health care system has made tremendous progress in reducing the use of physical restraints among hospitalized elderly patients, a positive change that has had numerous ripple effects, improving outcomes, maintaining mobility and preserving dignity and independence for these individuals.
INDIANAPOLIS - Many drugs commonly prescribed to older adults for a variety of common medical conditions including allergies, hypertension, asthma, and cardiovascular disease appear to negatively affect the aging brain causing immediate but possibly reversible cognitive impairment, including delirium, in older adults according to a clinical review now available online in the Journal of Clini
(Boston, Mass.)?Potentially modifiable post-fracture complications, including pneumonia and pressure ulcers, are associated with an increased risk of death among nursing home residents who have suffered a hip fracture, according to a new study conducted by scientists at the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife.
ATS 2009, SAN DIEGO?Aside from the obvious and immediate health problems that patients undergoing mechanical ventilation face, those who recover often do so with profound loss of strength and mobility that can impair their daily functioning and even lead to increased risk of morbidity and mortality down the line.
Dr. Jared Strote at the University of Washington Medical Center led a group that examined the medical records of nearly 900 patients subdued by the Seattle Police Department with a Taser over a six-year period. Less than one percent required hospital admission for an injury related to the restraint incident. No deaths occurred, even when patients exhibited signs of excited delirium.
The best way to treat hospitalized elderly patients who become delirious defies conventional wisdom and common practice, according to new research from Saint Louis University published in the July issue of Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Delirium, a common problem among the hospitalized elderly, causes patients to be confused, unclear in their thinking and incoherent. Their behavior may be disturbed - agitated, lethargic or a combination of the two. Those delirious patients who are sleepy and lethargic often are undiagnosed because they don't make a ruckus.
A new clinical trial hopes to unravel the genetic and molecular basis for delirium, a common complication afflicting elderly patients after major surgery. Delirium, which can prolong the recovery of elderly surgical patients, is a mental state characterized by impaired cognitive function, fluctuating levels of consciousness, disturbed sleep-wake cycles and agitation. Although difficult to measure, the incidence of delirium has been reported to be as high as 60 percent, with the elderly at the highest risk, the researchers said.
