Instrumentos para el diagnostico de delirium en hispanohablantes: articulo de revision
Delirium is a potentially treatable syndrome of acute onset with chronic sequelae, which can be measured in terms of morbidity and mortality. Because it is frequently disregarded, health personnel must be conscious of its importance as they go about their daily work, and it is necessary for neuroscience specialists and other health professionals to be familiar with the assessment instruments available. This article offers practical information regarding the characteristics of the assessment instruments for delirium in different settings focusing on those available in Spanish. We describe some aspects concerning validity and reliability and present a summary table of the most important qualitative data for the instruments described. The routine application of these methods would result in better patient service and would make information acquisition possible to improve the quality of instruments available or even show the need for validating and creating new ones in Ibero American countries.