Clinical utility and validation of two instruments (the Confusion Assessment Method Algorithm and the Chinese version of Nursing Delirium Screening Scale) to detect delirium in geriatric inpatients

The prevalence of delirium among newly admitted geriatric patients was 25%.

• The bilingual version of the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-DESC) demonstrated a sensitivity of 0.96 and specificity of 0.79 at an optimal cutoff of >0.
• The Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) exhibited a sensitivity of 0.76 and a specificity of 1.0.
• Both the Nu-DESC and CAM maintained their validity regardless of the presence of underlying dementia.
• Nu-DESC required an average administration time of 1 minute per shift, while CAM took approximately 10 minutes.

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