Abstract
Although the negative effects of adult delirium are widely known, minimal literature exists regarding the effects of delirium on pediatric patient outcomes. It is thought that adult and pediatric patients with delirium present similarly. However, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) practitioners often fall short in diagnosing delirium because the diagnostic screening tools used in the adult setting are not reliable in this younger population. The recent development of the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium (CAPD), which relies on the behavioral symptoms of children to accurately diagnose delirium, is encouraging in the diagnosis of pediatric delirium. The purpose of this project was to increase the number of pediatric patients who are accurately screened and diagnosed with delirium, through implementation of the CAPD in a 19-bed Midwestern PICU.