FOCUS ON GERIATRICS
BY LESLIE GOLDMAN, MPH
Dementia vs. Delirium How to differentiate these copycat conditions Ms. Bell, 83, arrived at the clinic with her daughter, who reported that for the past two days her mother had seemed unusually tired. The night before her clinic visit, the normally talkative senior, who had been diagnosed with dementia a few years prior, didn’t respond when her daughter asked if she knew what day it was and simply stared off into space. After performing a thorough medical history and exam, Ms. Bell’s nurse practitioner suspected worsening dementia. But she was wrong. Had she run a nasal PCR test, she
CONVENIENT CARE CLINICIAN
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would have discovered that Ms. Bell was positive for COVID-19, and the infection was causing delirium, a state of sudden confusion induced by some sort of physical or emotional stressor. Underrecognized Diagnosis Many patients with memory, thinking, language, and behavioral difficulties are misdiagnosed as having dementia,1,2 when delirium is to blame. Delirium is significantly underrecognized, says Carolyn K. Clevenger, DNP, GNP-BC, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP, FGSA, FAAN, a past president of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association and clinical director of the Emory Integrated Memory Care Clinic in Atlanta.
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022
3/13/22 9:54 PM
