A Jewish Home Lifecare clinical demonstration project, funded through a $212,000 grant from the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, has begun to explore risk factors and indicators of delirium and strategies to prevent it.
Led by Kenneth Boockvar, MD, MS, director of clincial studies at Jewish Home Lifecare’s Research Institute on Aging, the project is anticipated to improve ill elders’ lives. Over two years, 300 to 400 elders are expected to participate in the Jewish Home Lifecare Delirium Prevention Project.
"Delirium is a harbinger of worsening health," Boockvar said in a news release. "With its accompanying hallucinations and agitation, it is associated with long-term complications and is disturbing at best for the patient and most distressing for family members. While there have been studies on how to treat delirium, to my knowledge there has not been a project to prevent delirium from developing while a person is living in a nursing home setting. By identifying risk factors and tailoring interventions, our goal is to prevent delirium from occurring in the first place. In so doing, the impact on the older person’s health and well-being would be significant."
The Elder Life model, an evidence-based intervention designed to prevent functional and cognitive decline of elders during hospitalization, is being adapted for use within a nursing home. Using a mobile team of a nurse practitioner and an Elder Life specialist, standardized assessment and treatment for delirium risk factors will be provided at the onset of and during an acute illness, such as a bladder infection or fever. These brief interventions are expected to last seven to 14 days, until the acute illness has elapsed.
After the funding expires, Jewish Home Lifecare intends to continue the Elder Life program at its Bronx campus and to implement Elder Life at its other skilled nursing facilities in Manhattan and Westchester.
Led by Kenneth Boockvar, MD, MS, director of clincial studies at Jewish Home Lifecare’s Research Institute on Aging, the project is anticipated to improve ill elders’ lives. Over two years, 300 to 400 elders are expected to participate in the Jewish Home Lifecare Delirium Prevention Project.
"Delirium is a harbinger of worsening health," Boockvar said in a news release. "With its accompanying hallucinations and agitation, it is associated with long-term complications and is disturbing at best for the patient and most distressing for family members. While there have been studies on how to treat delirium, to my knowledge there has not been a project to prevent delirium from developing while a person is living in a nursing home setting. By identifying risk factors and tailoring interventions, our goal is to prevent delirium from occurring in the first place. In so doing, the impact on the older person’s health and well-being would be significant."
The Elder Life model, an evidence-based intervention designed to prevent functional and cognitive decline of elders during hospitalization, is being adapted for use within a nursing home. Using a mobile team of a nurse practitioner and an Elder Life specialist, standardized assessment and treatment for delirium risk factors will be provided at the onset of and during an acute illness, such as a bladder infection or fever. These brief interventions are expected to last seven to 14 days, until the acute illness has elapsed.
After the funding expires, Jewish Home Lifecare intends to continue the Elder Life program at its Bronx campus and to implement Elder Life at its other skilled nursing facilities in Manhattan and Westchester.
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