64 | Delirium day: awareness campaign for the diagnosis of delirium and the use of diagnostic tools

C. Vedele, E. Magnolfi, R. Dusi, A. De Marchi, V. De Sando, C. Bendini, F. Pallotti, G. Gallo, L. Spessotti, M. Macchiarulo | Geriatria Acuti Ortogeritria Cdcd Policlinico di Sant'Orsola IRCCS.

Delirium represents a true epidemiological emergency in hospitals. This condition leads to complications during hospitalization, affecting the length of stay and mortality. Data in the literature show that 1 in 4 elderly patients with delirium in the hospital; the main problem is that it is often underdiagnosed and, when diagnosed, not always coded in the hospital discharge records (SDO). For a couple of years now, electronic medical records have been in use, and the completion of the 4AT scale for the diagnosis of delirium can thus be recorded and extracted. Data from the 4AT forms completed in specialist, surgical, medical, and geriatric wards were collected, and subsequently, the analysis of the hospital discharge forms (SDO) completed with the diagnosis of delirium was also performed. The data highlight the high activity of the two Geriatric departments of the Policlinico (2024-2025), with approximately 4,964 emergency admissions (over two years); in 1,136 cases (22%), delirium was correctly coded in the SDO. In the other medical and surgical departments, however, delirium was recorded only 365 times in the SDOs, highlighting the critical issue of both non-coding and failure to recognize the condition. Hence the need for awareness campaigns and training courses, which, like we carry out every year during Delirium Day and the company courses that we have organized every Years since 2017 which allowed us to obtain recognition as an Alzheimer friendly hospital. Currently, the 4AT scale is not yet known or reported in CCE; in the last year (2025), of approximately 1,501 completions, 75% occurred in Geriatrics and 13% in Medicine. The data extraction carried out with colleagues from the health management regarding bed equivalents per day for delirium in Geriatrics shows that we are at 13.9 in total The role of hospital Geriatricians is to promote the correct diagnosis and subsequent coding of delirium.