Postoperative Delirium: A Survey of Perceptions Among Surgical Providers

Postoperative delirium (POD) remains a significant, costly complication. Despite increasing awareness in medical specialties, understanding among surgical providers remains unknown.

We aimed to (1) understand surgical providers' self-perceived knowledge of and confidence in identifying and managing POD, and (2) define the perceived importance of POD among surgical providers, relative to other complications.

An anonymous electronic survey was distributed to surgical providers across three hospitals in an academic medical system.

Seventy-six of 267 (28.5%) responded. The majority were somewhat (n=48, 63%) or very confident (n=12, 16%) identifying POD, however, few used validated tools (n=18, 24%). Most were somewhat (n=40, 52.6%) or very confident (n=9, 11.8%) managing POD. Few consulted geriatrics or other fields for co-management (n=23, 30.2%). Among six common complications, delirium consistently ranked third or fourth in importance.

Future work should focus on increasing the use of validated tools and building interdisciplinary initiatives for co-management.