Radar : un outil valide pour le repérage du syndrome confusionnel aigu (delirium) en résidences intermédiaires

Delirium is a serious geriatric syndrome that is frequently under-detected in clinical settings. The purpose of this study was to test the validity of Recognizing acute delirium as part of your routine (Radar) when used by nursing-assistants in residential care homes for cognitively impaired residents (n = 31). The results support the validity of the tool in this environment with acceptable sensitivity and specificity of 100 % and 77 %, respectively. Furthermore, of all the residents who scored positive on Radar but who did not meet the criteria for delirium, 88 % nevertheless presented serious cognitive impairment. Inter-rater reliability of Radar when used by assistant-nurses is excellent with percentage of agreement between 94.2 % and 99 %. Given these results, it would be appropriate to integrate Radar as a routine assessment in residential care.