Table 2.

Examples of delirium assessment tools (for diagnosis and severity rating) [8, 10, 17, 28, 29]

Tool or criteria	Administration	Comments
Diagnostic criteria
DSM-5		High level of training required
ICD-10		High level of training required
Delirium-specific assessment tools
Delirium Rating Scale-revised-98 (DRS-R-98)	16-item clinician rated scale (13 severity items and 3 diagnostic items) Maximum total score = 46	Designed for broad phenomenological assessment of delirium; manual to guide rating available
Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale (MDAS)	10-item clinician-rated scale (possible range of total score 0–30); originally designed for administration by psychiatrists to assess delirium severity; diagnostic cutoff score of 7 (was 13/30 in original study)	Training required Validated in palliative care patients Can pro-rate scores
Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) diagnostic algorithm	Brief 4-item tool (requires coadministration of a brief cognitive assessment tool)	Validated in palliative care population

DSM-5 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, ICD–10 International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision