National Prescribing Curriculum
Delirium in an older person
Manage confusion arising during an exacerbation of an elderly patient's chronic heart failure.
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Cost: free
About
The National Prescribing Curriculum (NPC) is a series of interactive case-based modules that encourage confident and rational prescribing. The modules follow a stepwise approach as outlined in the WHO's Guide to Good Prescribing.
In this module, you will manage confusion arising during an exacerbation of an elderly patient's chronic heart failure.
Learning objectives
On completion of this module, you should be able to:
- identify common causes of delirium in elderly patients
- formulate an acute management plan for an elderly patient with confusion
- identify appropriate non-pharmacological interventions to manage a patient with delirium
- choose an appropriate short-term pharmacological intervention for managing delirium and write a prescription for the chosen medicine.
- describe how to monitor response to treatment in a patient with confusion
- identify key information to be communicated to the patient, their carers and general practitioner (GP) on discharge.