Delirium Checklist

At home or in hospital, it's important to let healthcare professionals know if someone seems to be getting sicker, or if something just doesn't seem right. This could be a change in how they feel, look, or behave. Often, it's family, friends, or people close to someone who notice these changes first.

The Delirium Checklist Tool* is a questionnaire that helps screen for delirium (sudden confusion) in older adults. Have you noticed any sudden changes to their usual behaviour? If they are usually less attentive or a bit muddled in their thinking, for example due to dementia, and there is no change from how they normally behave, please score them a 0.

If someone scored 4 or more on the Delirium Checklist Tool, or you are concerned about them, please inform a healthcare professional (e.g. nurse or doctor) as soon as you can, so they can do a proper assessment.

Even if they scored less than 4, keep using this Checklist. It helps you continue to support the prevention of delirium in older adults.

* Shulman, R. W., Kalra, S., & Jiang, J. Z. (2016). Validation of the Sour Seven Questionnaire for screening delirium in hospitalized seniors by informal caregivers and untrained nurses. BMC geriatrics, 16, 44. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-016-0217-2