Partnering With Family Members to Prevent, Detect and Manage Delirium in Critically Ill Patients.

Almost half of critically ill patients experience delirium. Delirium is associated with impaired cognition, mortality, and increased healthcare costs. Family members of critically ill patients are also at risk for adverse consequences such as depression and anxiety. One strategy that may help improve outcomes is to engage family members in the prevention, detection, and management of delirium. This study will employ an educational module to educate families on delirium symptoms, how to identify delirium, and how to prevent and manage delirium using non-pharmacological strategies. Family delirium detection may result in earlier and more accurate recognition of delirium and meaningful family involvement, and therein the potential for better patient and family outcomes. We aim to determine the efficacy of employing family-administered delirium prevention, detection, and management in the critically ill, compared to usual care. We hypothesize that family-administered delirium prevention, detection, and management in the critically ill will be superior to standard of care in: 1. reducing psychological distress in family members, 2. reducing the prevalence, duration, and severity of delirium in critically ill patients, 3. increasing delirium identification in medical charts, 4. increasing delirium knowledge in family members of critically ill patients, and 5. reducing the burden of delirium experienced by family members and caregivers.