Clinical practice guidelines for delirium management: potential application in palliative care

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care Medicine
• Evidence-Based Practice
• Clinical Guideline Development

Background:

• Delirium is prevalent across diverse healthcare settings.
• The applicability of existing delirium management guidelines to palliative care is not well-defined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify delirium management guidelines relevant to palliative care.
• To evaluate guideline development, utility, implementation, and future needs.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature search of databases (PubMed, Scopus) and guideline repositories.
• Inclusion of "expert opinion" for evidence gaps.
• Multidisciplinary input from researchers and stakeholders.

Main Results:

• A limited number of delirium guidelines exist, often based on expert opinion due to scarce high-level evidence.
• Guidelines require appraisal and adaptation before clinical implementation.
• Further research is needed on guideline evaluation and impact on care quality.

Conclusions:

• Existing delirium clinical guidelines have limited evidential support.
• Enhanced research is crucial for developing more robust and effective future guidelines.