If the DOS was not required, would you still use it? Why or Why not? (N=49) | |
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Responses and Themes | Examples |
Yes (n=15) |
“It is a great tool for stopping and thinking about changes in my patient’s mental status” “It helps me prioritize where pt. needs/my interventions will be” “It makes one realize to what extent your patient is at risk for or has delirium” “I think it helps encourage nurses to consider factors they may be too busy or distracted to consider otherwise” |
Provisionally (n=8) |
“Only if delirium suspected” “I would use it if conversation with pt is not tracking” “If I was starting to notice my patient was getting confused and I was unclear on the reason” |
No (n=26) |
“Even with a score indicating a patient has delirium nothing happens to help treat the condition so it is a waste of my time” “It doesn’t seem to change the way that I care for my patient” “Just another thing to chart that takes up time” “I tend to look at the neuro assessment on whether they are confused” “Based on my personal nursing skills/judgment, you can tell if someone has delirium” “It is mainly for the physicians. I can interpret the mentation of my patients without it.” |
Any additional comments about the DOS? | |
Supportive (n=5) | “I think having a scale that assesses the delirium risk/status of a patient is very important, as sometimes delirium goes unnoticed. I love that our hospital is making efforts to better patient care, especially for the geriatric populations. I would like more information on HOW the scale can be better implemented and used to provide better care for my patients.” |
Non-supportive (n=13) |
“It can be helpful to compare small changes in mental status, but it does not always represent an accurate assessment of the patient due to the lack of further details” “Be careful with have so many assessments- sometimes it can be unrealistic the amount of charting nursing has to do. My concern is that they really don’t get done or just seen as ‘another thing that nurses have to do’ instead of seeing it as a useful tool.” |