Table 3.

Trigger Words for Delirium Abstraction

Word†  Source	Total Charts with Word (N=63)	Delirious Charts with Word (n=35)	Non-Delirious Charts with Word (n=28)	PPV
‘AMS’ or ‘Mental Status’
Nurse	8 (13)	8 (23)	0 (0)	100
Physician	11 (18)	11 (31)	0 (0)	100
Other	1 (2)	0 (0)	1 (4)	0
‘Deliri*’
Nurse	9 (14)	9 (26)	0 (0)	100
Physician	10 (16)	9 (26)	1 (4)	90
Other	2 (3)	2 (6)	0 (0)	100
‘Alert and Oriented’ (< 3)
Nurse	17 (27)	14 (40)	3 (11)	82
Physician	2 (3)	2 (6)	0 (0)	100
Other	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0
‘Hallucin*’
Nurse	5 (8)	4 (11)	1 (4)	80
Physician	1 (2)	1 (3)	0 (0)	100
Other	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0
‘Confus*’
Nurse	39 (62)	27 (77)	12 (43)	69
Physician	18 (29)	17 (49)	1 (4)	94
Other	3 (5)	0 (0)	3 (11)	0
‘Reorient*’
Nurse	31 (49)	20 (57)	11 (39)	65
Physician	1 (2)	1 (3)	0 (0)	100
Other	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0
‘Disorient*’
Nurse	15 (24)	9 (26)	6 (21)	60
Physician	3 (5)	3 (9)	0 (0)	100
Other	1 (2)	1 (3)	0 (0)	100
‘Encephalopathy‡’
Nurse	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0
Physician	3 (5)	3 (9)	0 (0)	100
Other	1 (2)	1 (3)	0 (0)	100
Any Word
Nurse	51 (81)	32 (91)	19 (68)	63
Physician	24 (38)	22 (63)	2 (7)	92
Other	7 (11)	3 (9)	4 (14)	43
No Word
Nurse	12 (19)	3 (9)	9 (32)	25
Physician	39 (62)	13 (37)	26 (93)	33
Other	56 (89)	32 (91)	24 (86)	57

Note. All values are n (%)

^†These words triggered an abstraction, and thus, they never appeared in the non-abstracted (n=237) charts;

^*indicates multiple different endings, such as ‘um’, ‘ous’, etc.

^‡Metabolic encephalopathy; toxic encephalopathy; drug-induced encephalopathy; toxic-metabolic (and all with “encephalopathy”) PPV= Positive Predictive Value