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As many as 60% of older hospitalized patients develop delirium, which is associated with poor outcomes including increased morbidity, mortality, and length of stay, institutionalization, and functional decline (Crit Care Med 2001; 29:1370). Clinicians need to readily identify patients with delirium so that they can initiate treatment as quickly as possible. Which screening tool is most suitable remains unclear.
In this study, researchers tested the diagnostic accuracy of two screening methods, individually and in combination: the months of the year backwards (MOTYB) and the Spatial Span Forwards (SSF) test. The 265 participants were general hospital adult inpatients in a large tertiary referral hospital, screened on a single day by junior me…