Diagnostic Tool to Detect Delirium Proves Superior to Commonly-Used Test

Research awarded the Academy’s Dlin/Fischer prize

The Dlin/Fischer Clinical Research Award—awarded for significant achievement in clinical research and the highest-scoring oral paper submitted for presentation at the Annual Meeting—has been won by José Maldonado, MD, FACLP, FACFE.

Dr. Maldonado, et al., Critical Care Psychiatry Service, Division of Medical Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, authored Assessing the Diagnostic Accuracy of the Stanford Proxy Test for Delirium (S-PTD) in a Critically Ill Population.

Their goal was to assess the accuracy of their proxy test against the most widely-used delirium detection tool in intensive care units, the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU, then to compare the performance of both tools against a DSM-5 based neuropsychiatric assessment.

The Stanford tool demonstrated superior sensitivity regardless of phenotype—crucial in detecting delirium.

Dr. Maldonado will be giving his Dlin/Fischer Clinical Research Award lecture today.