Determination of delirium and risk factors in patients hospitalized in intensive care unit

This research has been carried out as descriptive in order to determine the delirium and risk factors in patients hospitalized in intensive care unit. The sample of the research was 55 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit in Hospital of İzzet Baysal Faculty of Medicine, Abant İzzet Baysal University. The research data were collected between March 2008-April 2009 with the patient information form prepared by the researcher, Confusion Evaluation Method in Intensive Care Unit, Glasgow Coma Scale (CKS), Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II) and Simplified Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS-28). In analysis of the data, Chi-square, Fischer exact chi-square, t test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used. At the end of the research, it was found that delirium occurred in 18.2% (n=10) of the patients, 80% of the patients in which delirium occurred were of hypoactive type, the points of APACHE II, RASS, TISS-28 among intensive care scores increased in the group with delirium, the mortality rate of the patients with delirium was higher than that of the patients without delirium and the difference was found to be meaningful statistically (p<0.05), the hospitalization period in intensive care unit for the patients with delirium was longer (p<0.05), 6.9% of the patients with delirium had visual impairment and delirium occurred (p<0.05) in patients who had no visual impairment (30.8%). In line with the findings of the research, it is suggested that patients who have high scores of APACHE II, RASS, TISS-28, who are lethargic and hospitalized for a long time in intensive care unit, are closely monitored in respect of delirium risk.Keywords : delirium, nurse, risk factors, intensive care unit.