Among nearly 98,000 older adults needing surgery, some were nearly twice as likely to undergo a delirium screening depending on the hospital where they received care, according to a study published June 10.
Hospitals with the American College of Surgeons Geriatric Surgery Verification conducted postoperative delirium screenings among 94.3% of patients, compared to 52.5% of patients at hospitals without this verification, the study found. Notably, hospitals with the lowest screening rates had very high positivity rates.
“If you are not doing routine screening, these cases go undetected and can be mistaken for fatigue,” lead author Sarah Remer, MD, said in a news release. “Some hospitals may only be screening when a patient has hyperactive, very clinically obvious delirium, essentially using a screening tool to confirm a diagnosis rather than to get ahead of it.”
To study the effects of standardized postoperative delirium screenings among older adults, researchers analyzed records from 97,886 inpatients aged 75 or older — with a mean age of 81.7 years — who underwent surgery in 2024.
While delirium screening positivity did not differ much between hospitals with and without the verification (about 12% of patients), GSV hospitals had shorter hospitalizations and fewer prolonged lengths of stay among screened patients. For patients who did develop delirium, lengths of stay and readmission rates were similar regardless of hospital type, according to the study.
The American College of Surgeons has also noted a 50% reduction in postoperative death rates among GSV hospitals, according to the release.
The findings are published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
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