Omvårdnadsåtgärder vid postoperativt delirium

Abstract

Background: The risk of suffering from postoperative delirium in elderly people undergoing surgery is as high as 80%. Thus, old age is associated with getting postoperative delirium and the incidence increases with higher age. Nursing interventions have proven to be of great importance to prevent and treat postoperative delirium. Aim: To explore nursing interventions for older patients who suffer from postoperative delirium after surgery. Method: A literature study with search history in the databases Pubmed and Scopus. The articles were published between the years 2017-2022. Inclusion criteria: original articles, peer reviewed, postoperative nursing interventions, the setting is in the hospital, age over 65 years, the article is in English or Swedish and that a nursing intervention is presented in the study. Eight articles were included in this study, four quantitative and four qualitative. Results: The analysis identified six main themes; create a care relationship, multi professional teams, the patienten and the family, the importance of information, identify and treat symptoms and the importance of the healthcare environment. Conclusion: There are multiple effective nursing interventions to treat postoperative delirium following a surgical intervention. Interventions that reduced the level of delirium were pain relief, a good healthcare environment, music as pain relief, involvement of the family and person-centered care.