The validation of the Czech version of the Delirium Observation Scale and the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale for delirium screening in patients with locomotive apparatus trauma

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Methods: The study included 400 patients hospitalized in the traumatology department, University Hospital, Olomouc. The receiver operating characteristics analysis, sensitivity and specificity values and positive and negative predictive values for the screening delirium symptoms were calculated.

Results: The average duration of delirium was 2.78 days. The Delirium Observation Scale (DOS) screening instrument produced the best predictive validity values (sensitivity 97.6%, specificity 96.2%), followed by the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-DESC) (sensitivity 92.7%, specificity 96.5%). Both screening instruments have comparable psychometric properties as well as features in the area of the already mentioned feasibility. The largest differences between the psychometric features of the screening instruments were detected in the Nu-DESC instrument in the area of sensitivity.

Conclusion: The benefit of the research lies in obtaining the predictive validity values for the DOS and Nu-DESC screening instruments in patients with locomotive apparatus trauma, having had surgical or conservative treatment. Our results may support a systematic and evidence-based implementation of the screening instruments for detecting of delirium in a clinical setting.