Implementation of a psychological intervention for delirium prevention in elderly inpatients: results of a pilot real life study in internal medicine setting

The present research aimed at: (a) estimating delirium incidence in consecutively enrolled inpatients in an internal medicine setting for a period of three months; (b) adding to usual care (which was managed by a multidisciplinary team) a manualized intervention aimed at cognitive stimulation and orientation (here named intervention) to inpatients consecutively enrolled at the internal medicinal inpatients unit in a subsequent period of three months. The intervention was delivered by 3rd to 6th year volunteer medical students, being a type of “volunteer” available in our clinical academic realm, being a hub between patients (who are lay subjects) and clinicians (since they are at middle path of clinical training and familiar with clinical issues/settings without overseeing patients’ health); (c) verifying whether delirium incidence differs between those who received usual care and those who received usual care plus the intervention; (d) assessing cognitive function among those undergoing the intervention; (e) measuring patients’ and students’ satisfaction in the participation to the study. As secondary aim, the research was proposed to allow volunteer medical students developing skills in medical-patient relationship.