The effects of multimedia education on postoperative delirium in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft: A...

Patients undergoing cardiac surgeries are at high risk of developing delirium.

The present study aimed to determine the effects of multimedia education on postoperative delirium in patients undergoing a coronary artery bypass graft.

This study was a randomized clinical trial.

In this study, 110 patients undergoing a coronary artery bypass graft were assigned to two groups, control and intervention. Patients in the intervention group received multimedia education, and those in the control group received routine training. The inclusion criteria were experiencing the coronary artery bypass graft for the first time and non-development of post-operative cardiogenic shock or myocardial rupture. After measuring the level of consciousness, patients were examined in terms of delirium using the confusion assessment method for the ICU scale twice a day from admission to discharge from the ICU. The data were statistically analysed using χ² test and Fisher's exact test.

Patients of both groups were matched in terms of demographics. The highest incidence of delirium was observed on the first day after surgery in the intervention group (14.5%) and in the morning of the second day after surgery (29.1%) in the control group. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the two groups in the incidence of delirium in the morning of the second, third, and fourth days after surgery as it was higher in the control group over these days.

Considering the lower incidence of post-operative delirium in patients who experienced multimedia education rather than control group, the use of this non-pharmaceutical method is recommended to prevent delirium in such patients.

Delirium is also an acute organic brain syndrome that often leads to complicated conditions after cardiac surgeries. Fortunately, delirium is a preventable issue. The implementation of multimedia education as a non-pharmacological approach had positive effects on patients' delirium.