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Hartford Institute Video: Delirium: The Unrecognized Medical Emergency A key point of the video Delirium is a deadly, medical emergency mostly noted in older individuals. However, it is often not recognized by health care providers. According to this video, mental confusion is not a usual symptom of aging, rather an indication that there is a problem in the brain. During a delirium, when a mental status assessment is done, the findings may be misunderstood as dementia, thus having a devastating outcome for the aging person. The diagnosis of delirium is basically clinical and is founded on cautious bedside observations of major signs, but its recognition is the first step (consultgerirn. org).
An implication for nursing practice
Nurses and other health providers find it difficult to assess delirium in older adults who have dementia and in hospitalized ageing adults because of overlapping features of dementia and delirium and the uncertainty of the baseline mental status of the patient. If a patient is hospitalized from a long-term care facility or an assisted living, the nurse is forced to ask the staff at the facility on the patient’s baseline functional and mental status (consultgerirn. org). The process presents practical means for bedside nurses to evaluate Confusion Assessment Method and delirium features such as fluctuation and poor attention. The process helps to address ageism, a noticeable barrier to detecting the occurrence of delirium, in which nurses attribute further lethargy or cognitive loss in an individual suffering from dementia as an inevitable issue of life for ageing adults. In this case therefore, communication among practitioners is crucial to the recognition and treatment of delirium.

Work cited
The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, New York University, College of Nursing and the Alzheimer’s Association. Retrieved from: http://consultgerirn. org/resources/media/? vid_id= 4361983#player_container