Comparing Hospital Elder Life Program with Family-Augmented HELP to Prevent Delirium in Hospitalized Older Adults

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to compare the traditional Hospital Elder Life Program HELP with a family-augmented version called FAM-HELP to prevent delirium in older hospitalized patients. Delirium is a common and serious complication during hospital stays for older adults that can lead to loss of independence and increased healthcare costs. The study focuses on determining which program better reduces delirium incidence and severity, improves patient and family outcomes, and explores how FAM-HELP works in different hospital settings. The HELP program uses a team of nurse specialists, social workers, and volunteers to provide daily non-drug care such as orientation, cognitive stimulation, mobility assistance, sleep support, help with vision and hearing aids, hydration, and nutrition. The FAM-HELP program adds family members or care partners who support patients emotionally and socially throughout the hospital stay and assist with HELP activities to enhance patient engagement. Both programs are delivered during hospitalization, with family involvement being the key difference. Participants aged 70 and older with at least one delirium risk factor and an expected hospital stay of 72 hours or more will be involved. They will be monitored for delirium occurrence and severity daily up to 14 days during hospitalization. Additional assessments will track delirium duration, caregiver strain, cognitive function, hospital experience, physical function, falls, hospital stay length, discharge outcomes, and readmission up to 30 days after discharge. The study uses a randomized, double-blind design to compare outcomes between HELP and FAM-HELP groups.

Evaluating Novel Healthcare Approaches to Nurturing and Caring for Hospitalized Elders