Best Practices and Guidelines

Learn more about what you can do now to make sure your practice is doing all it can to prevent postoperative delirium.

COVID-19 Delirium Prevention Resources

Resources relevant to COVID-19 and delirium to assist in the care of older adults.

Best Practices for Postoperative Brain Health Initiative

Learn about practical recommendations that could be implemented by anesthesiologists and their partners to reduce the incidence of perioperative neurocognitive disorders:
 
Peden CJ, Miller TR, Deiner SG, Eckenhoff RG, Fleisher LA. Improving perioperative brain health: an expert consensus review of key actions for the perioperative care team. Br J Anaesth. 2021;126(2):423-432. doi:10.1016/j.bja.2020.10.037

Learn more about the Recommendations From the Fifth International Perioperative Neurotoxicity Working Group.

Read more from Anesthesia & Analgesia

ACS NSQIP^® AGS Geriatric Perioperative Guidelines and Best Practices

Learn more about the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program^® (ACS NSQIP^®) American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Geriatric Perioperative Guidelines.

Visit ACS to download materials

American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Clinical Practice Guideline for Postoperative Delirium in Older Adults

The Clinical Practice Guidelines for Postoperative Delirium is a multispecialty interdisciplinary effort led by the American Geriatrics Society and underwritten by the Hartford Foundation with input from multiple stakeholders to provide practitioners with evidence-based strategies to prevent/manage delirium. This resource is free and requires registration.

Visit AGS to find this guideline

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare  “Caring for Cognitive Impairment” initiative to help, identify and care for people with cognitive impairment in hospital including the identification, prevention and management of delirium.  A very useful website with guidelines, videos and resources.

Learn more about caring for cognitive impairment

UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Guideline

UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on prevention, diagnosis and management of delirium nice guidance prevention and treatment of delirium.

Visit NICE to learn more

AGS Beers Criteria Screening

The AGS Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults.

Learn about Beers Criteria screening