Acute Confusion Care Plan Example

Acute Confusion Care Plan Example

 

Acute confusion, also referred to as delirium is described as “an etiologically non-specific organic cerebral syndrome, characterized by concurrent disturbances of consciousness and attention, perception, thinking, memory, psychomotor behavior, emotion and the sleep-wake cycle” in other words it is a serious disturbance in mental abilities that results in confused thinking and reduced awareness of the environment. Delirium, however, has been known to rapidly manifest itself over a very short period of time but does not last for a long period of time.

This is one of the characteristics that is used to set it apart from dementia.

As a nurse, you will almost certainly encounter a case of acute confusion and that will call for you to bring on your expertise to diagnose the client properly and give the best treatment there is. This is however not a one-off thing and will require some time dealing with it hence a care plan come in handy in these circumstances. So how do you formulate an acute confusion care plan and what do you need to know as a nursing student so as to write an A student caliber care plan? Well, let that not cost you sleepless nights, as I will give you all that you need in this segment.

 

How to Write Acute Confusion Care Plan

Care plans are quite personal and need a personal touch to each client depending on their assessment and diagnosis, which is exactly why your care plan needs to be unique from any others. While this may seem like an uphill task, I can assure you that expert writing help services have got you covered. They have a wide range of professional writing services that are well-tailored to leave a smile on your face after you get the perfect score and not a dent in your pocket. With expert writing help you will get more than you bargain for as you get well-discounted prices, and of course, you will be in control of your paper thanks to the 24/7 open customer care line, after all, the client comes first.

 

Acute confusion has a variety of causes but the major ones are related to old age, dementia, and drug abuse. All these tend to have a reaction with the mind and cloud the cognitive capability of a person. In an academic setting, you will be provided with a scenario that describes a patient to you and points out all that the patient expresses and what you can deduce from observation. The scenario given will create the basis for your care plan as it will give you all the information you need for your assessment.

 

Having collected data from the assessment, you will then proceed to diagnose the patient which is the second step in the six-step process. This requires you to bring on board all that you learned in class and you can as well use a handbook to help you out ascertain your diagnosis. The diagnosis is to be specifically structured in three bits that give the actual diagnosis, state what it is related to (from assessment) and finally what evidence you used to base it on.

 

Assessment

– Agitation and restlessness

– Fluctuation in the sleep-wake cycle

– Fluctuation in the level of consciousness

– Hallucination

– Misperception

– Sundown syndrome

Nursing diagnosis

–  Hyperactive delirium as evidenced by combativeness, agitation uncooperativeness and hyperactivity.

–  Lab results showing signs of hypoxemia, signs of infection and high drug levels

–  Sleep disorder as evidenced by anger, anxiety delusion and paranoia in the late afternoons

Outcomes

–  The patient should be able to independently undertake ADL.

–  Regaining appropriate motor behavior

–  Diminished episodes of delirium having them spaced out over long periods.

–  The patient should be able to calmly express themselves

Interventions

–  Treatment for underlying causes that could trigger acute confusion

–  Reviewing existing medication especially antianxiety agents and hallucinogens. Detoxication

–  With the help of family, orient the patient to surroundings

–  Modulate sensory exposure

–  Reduce caffeine intake

Rationale

–  A calm environment with reduced levels of noise

–  Reduced caffeine intake reduces restlessness as well as establishes an effective sleep-wake cycle.

 

An acute confusion care plan should be made specific to a patient and all factors are to be considered, including and not limited to age, medical condition, background, occupation, past trauma, medical history and medication. However, it is important to be open to the possibility of comorbidity in the type of confusion as well other mental ailments.

 

Acute confusion could also be caused by an infection, drug abuse, change in environment as well as having excess visitors causing the patient to become uneasy and is normally characterized by

–  Hallucination

–  Fluctuation in the sleep-wake cycle

–  Agitation

–  Combativeness

–  Fluctuation in cognition

–  Fluctuating psychomotor activity

 

As a medical expert, the basic thing will be getting both the objective and subjective assessment. This will help you base your diagnosis and depending on what you deduce from the symptoms, lab testing, as well as other medical examinations, follows to prove beyond reasonable doubt what you are dealing with. From here you can draw a diagnosis that you will base your expected outcome on.

 

The planning always come before so as to position the nurse in a position that pushes them to achieve the set goals. The set goals, in this case, will also be used as a scale to evaluate the progress and success of the nursing intervention. A care plan is a wholesome document that puts the end in mind as well as the means and it allows for modifications to be made as time goes by to give the best care to the patients and ensure their recovery or that they are doing better.

 

With this guide format to create an acute confusion care plan, I am confident that you are in a much better position now to formulate a care plan on your own or alternatively get a nursing care plan writer to do it for you.