Minnesota Hospital Association

Quality & Patient Safety

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Quality & Patient Safety

Delirium

Delirium is a serious disturbance in a patient’s mental ability, resulting in confused thinking and reduced awareness of their environment. Typically, the onset of delirium occurs rapidly, often within a few days. Delirium can be traced to one or more contributing factors, such as a severe or chronic medical illness; changes in metabolic balance, such as low sodium; medications; infection; surgery; or dehydration/malnutrition.    

To combat the incidence of delirium, MHA developed a delirium detection, prevention and management road map that provide a comprehensive set of best practices incorporating research and learnings from national and local efforts.

MHA members can log in to the website at the top-right corner of this page to view the delirium road map. 

Delirium webinars

The Minnesota Hospital Association and Ohio Hospital Association have a partnership to address delirium, including identification, development and dissemination of delirium tools and resources. The two organizations host webinars to share learnings and promote best practices to decrease the incidence of delirium.