Delirium Care Pathways
Glossary
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ADL | Activities of Daily Living. |
| AMT | Abbreviated Mental Test - a 10 question test used to rapidly assess elderly patients for dementia. A score of six or less suggests delirium or dementia, although further and more formal tests are necessary to confirm the diagnosis. |
| ATSI | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. |
| CALD | Culturally and linguistically diverse. |
| Cognitive Function | The mental process of knowing, thinking, learning, reasoning, judging and remembering. |
| Cognitive Function Assessment Tool | A recognised and approved formal process for evaluating cognitive function and diagnosing impairment of cognitive function. |
| Cognitive Impairment | Reduction in mental functioning and ability to carry out tasks that require thinking, planning, and memory. |
| Co-morbidity | The coexistence of two or more medical disorders or disease processes. |
| CAM | Confusion Assessment Method. CAM was specifically designed for use with older people, to improve the identification and recognition of delirium. It provides a standardised method to enable non-psychiatric clinicians to detect delirium quickly in high-risk settings. |
| CAMICU | Confusion Assessment Method Intensive Care Unit - is a modified version of the CAM for use in intensive care. It incorporates non-verbal, objective assessment instruments. CAMICU is a delirium assessment instrument for use by nurses and physicians, and uses standardized non-verbal assessments for mechanically ventilated and non-ventilated ICU patients. The features and descriptions of delirium are the same as the CAM. |
| Delirium | Disturbance of consciousness, attention, cognition and perception that develops over a short period of time (usually hours or days) and tends to fluctuate during the course of the day. |
| DRS | Delirium Rating Scale - a diagnostic tool consists of 10 items with a total score range of 0-40. It is based on the DSM-III-R criteria for delirium and covers perceptual disturbance, temporal onset, psychomotor behaviour, sleep wake disturbance, labile mood and variability of symptoms. |
| DSI | Delirium Symptom Interview - a diagnostic tool using an interview protocol for assessing the seven symptom domains delineated by the DSM-III criteria for delirium. It is composed of 33 questions that address the domains of: disorientation; disturbance of sleep; perceptual disturbance; incoherent speech; level of psychomotor activity; general behaviour observations. |
| Dementia | A progressive decline in cognitive function that affects memory, judgement, attention, language and problem solving. |
| HCOASC | Health Care of Older Australians Standing Committee, a subcommittee of the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council (AHMAC) Health Policy Priorities Principal Committee (HPPPC). |
| Hypoglycaemia | An abnormal decrease in the blood sugar level. |
| Hypotension | An abnormal decrease in the blood pressure. |
| Hypoxia | A pathological condition in which the body as a whole or a region of the body is deprived of an adequate oxygen supply. |
| MMSE | Mini Mental State Examination - a 30 question test, administered in 10 minutes, and used to screen for cognitive impairment. It samples various functions including arithmetic, memory and orientation. |
| Pharmacological Management | Treatment of a disorder or disease using drug therapy. |
| Poole's Algorithm | A map or model, in the form of a flow sheet, created by Julia Poole, for providing general guidelines for the management of disturbed behaviour in older people. |
| Psychoactive Drugs | A medical, drug or chemical substance that affects the mind, mood or other mental processes. |