Delirium current practice among Intensive Care Units Doctors, Khartoum- Underlying data

Delirium is a brain dysfunction that is characterized by attention and cognition disturbances in a fluctuating pattern. International guidelines recommend daily screening of delirium. The Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) and the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) were the most commonly used for delirium assessment. The reasons why this study was developed were to identify the barriers and gaps in knowledge and practice. Multi-center Hospital-based Cross-Sectional study was developed. Multistage sampling technique was used. 72 ICU doctors were randomly selected. Statistical analysis was performed through chi-square test to determine association among variables. It was considered significant when p ≤ 0.05. More than 70% of doctors were ≤ 30 years and females. 69.4% had < 1year experience. 94.4% worked in medical ICUs. Less than 20% of the doctors used delirium assessment tools with a statistically significant difference based on experience (p=0.012). 13.9% had not assessed delirium regularly. Non-pharmacological management was applied by 76.4% of the doctors, communication with patients was the most frequent (75%). Haloperidol was the most used agent (83.3%). 40.3% of doctors had not stopped delirium medications on ICU discharge. Regular assessment of delirium was applied. Yet, the use of validated assessment tools was not common. Non-pharmacological management of delirium is important which is mostly done. Our doctors prescribed anti-psychotics for treatment of both forms of delirium and almost half of them did not stop medications on ICU discharge. Medication reconciliation and contact with the next in-charge of patients is important.