The family in preventing delirium in the intensive care unit: Scoping review

Delirium is cognitive impairment related to negative inpatient outcomes in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), family interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing the incidence of this condition.

To identify strategies that include the family in the prevention of delirium in the adult intensive care unit that can be integrated into ABCDEF.

Studies describing actions and interventions involving caregivers and family members in the ICU for the prevention of delirium, conducted in the last five years, available in full text, in English and Spanish, Portuguese and in adults.

A scope review was conducted using the keywords "Critical Care, Delirium, Family, Primary Prevention" in 11 databases (PubMed, Virtual Health Library, Cochrane Library, TRIP Data base, EBSCO, Ovid Nursing, Springer, Scopus, Dialnet, Scielo, Lilacs) and other sources (Open Gray, Google Scholar), between August - October 2019; 8 studies were considered relevant and were analysed.

The results were described in 3 categories: flexibility vs. restriction of visits in the ICU, Reorientation as a prevention strategy and post-ICU syndrome in the family.

Extended visits, development of family-mediated activities, and redirection are non-pharmacological strategies that reduce the incidence of delirium in the ICU and offer multiple benefits to the patient and family/caregiver.