[Delirium Management in Palliative Care]

Delirium Management in Palliative Care Abstract. Delirium is one of the most common neuropsychiatric complications in patients with advanced incurable disease. End-of-life delirium is common but is often overlooked, undiagnosed or incorrectly diagnosed/untreated. Delirium should also be treated in a palliative situation - as far as possible - because persistent delirious states increase the patient's fragility, limit physical functionality and shorten the lifespan. In addition, acute states of confusion trigger high levels of distress in affected patients and their relatives, impair the quality of life and a dignified dying process. While hallucinations and visions at the end of life are interpreted as delirium in medicine and treated as such, this phenomenon is interpreted by philosophical and theological hermeneutics as a resource that can help patients and their relatives to reconcile with past life events and to deal with the process of dying. However, the occurrence of end-of-life visions as opposed to delirium has not yet been studied very much and requires more detailed exploration.