Association of Loneliness With Change in Physical and Emotional Health of Older Adults During the COVID-19 Shutdown.

Objectives: To examine factors influencing loneliness and the effect of loneliness on physical and emotional health, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Prospective, observational cohort.

Setting: Community-dwelling participants.

Categorizing national caregiver recommendations to support family caregivers and address unmet needs.

Background: Recognizing family caregivers as vital providers of long-term assistance to loved ones with chronic illness, several national organizations developed recommendations to improve support for family caregivers.

Purpose: This article categorizes these recommendations to advance family-centered nursing practice, develop health policies, and advocate for family caregiver support.

Methods: Six reports of caregiver recommendations published in the United States from 2016 to 2021 were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Identifying Delirium in Persons With Moderate or Severe Dementia: Review of Challenges and an Illustrative Approach.

Delirium and dementia are common causes of cognitive impairment among older adults, which often coexist. Delirium is associated with poor clinical outcomes, and is more frequent and more severe in patients with dementia. Identifying delirium in the presence of dementia, also described as delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD), is particularly challenging, as symptoms of delirium such as inattention, cognitive dysfunction, and altered level of consciousness, are also features of dementia.

Psychometric Properties of a Delirium Severity Score for Older Adults and Association With Hospital and Posthospital Outcomes.

Importance: The ability to rate delirium severity is key to providing optimal care for older adults, and such ratings would allow clinicians to target patients with severe delirium and monitor response to treatment, recovery time, and prognosis; assess nursing burden and staffing needs; and, ultimately, provide more appropriate patient-centered care. Current delirium severity measures have been limited in their content, gradations, and measurement characteristics.

Objective: To examine the internal consistency, reliability, and validity for clinical outcomes of the DEL-S delirium severity score, a measure of delirium severity that was developed using advanced psychometric approaches, analogous to those of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System initiative.

Predictors of Caregiver Burden in Delirium: Patient and Caregiver Factors.

The current study examined the association of patient factors, patient/caregiver relationships, and living arrangements with caregiver burden due to delirium. The sample included a subset ( = 207) of hospitalized medical and surgical patients (aged >70 years) enrolled in the Better Assessment of Illness Study and their care-givers. The majority of caregivers were female (57%) and married (43%), and 47% reported living with the patient.

Development and internal validation of a predictive model of cognitive decline 36 months following elective surgery.

Introduction: Our goal was to determine if features of surgical patients, easily obtained from the medical chart or brief interview, could be used to predict those likely to experience more rapid cognitive decline following surgery.

Methods: We analyzed data from an observational study of 560 older adults (≥70 years) without dementia undergoing major elective non-cardiac surgery. Cognitive decline was measured using change in a global composite over 2 to 36 months following surgery.

Machine Learning to Develop and Internally Validate a Predictive Model for Post-operative Delirium in a Prospective, Observational Clinical Cohort Study of Older Surgical Patients.

Background: Our objective was to assess the performance of machine learning methods to predict post-operative delirium using a prospective clinical cohort.

Methods: We analyzed data from an observational cohort study of 560 older adults (≥ 70 years) without dementia undergoing major elective non-cardiac surgery. Post-operative delirium was determined by the Confusion Assessment Method supplemented by a medical chart review (N = 134, 24%).

New Delirium Severity Indicators: Generation and Internal Validation in the Better Assessment of Illness (BASIL) Study.

Background: Delirium is a common and preventable geriatric syndrome. Moving beyond the binary classification of delirium present/absent, delirium severity represents a potentially important outcome for evaluating preventive and treatment interventions and tracking the course of patients. Although several delirium severity assessment tools currently exist, most have been developed in the absence of advanced measurement methodology and have not been evaluated with rigorous validation studies.

Diversifying the Pipeline Into Doctoral Nursing Programs: Developing the Doctoral Advancement Readiness Self-Assessment.

This article presents the development and psychometric analysis of the Doctoral Readiness Self-Assessment for Doctoral Study. This survey was developed as the first step of a Web-based, on-line mentoring platform for nurses who are considering a doctoral degree program. By identifying and anticipating the predictors and barriers of success in doctoral nursing education, including practical (finances, time, geographical restriction) and personal factors (motivation, attitudes, perceived ability to navigate the application process), students are guided through a self-reflective process to determine readiness.

Setting the Stage for Success: Mentoring and Leadership Development.

The New Careers in Nursing (NCIN) Program funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has expanded enrollment in schools of nursing with accelerated nursing programs and increased diversity in the nursing workforce. As the demand for highly educated and skilled nurses continues to grow, accelerated nursing programs are thriving and increasing in number. The growing cadre of nontraditional nursing students has challenged nursing faculty to institute innovative teaching methods to develop accelerated students' leadership skills and to provide mentoring resources for newly licensed nurses to guide the successful and complex transition from the student to professional practice.

EFFECT OF PREOPERATIVE PAIN AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF POSTOPERATIVE DELIRIUM.

Background: Preoperative pain and depression predispose patients to delirium. Our goal was to determine whether pain and depressive symptoms interact to increase delirium risk.

Methods: We enrolled 459 persons without dementia aged ≥70 years scheduled for elective orthopedic surgery.

Global aging: implications for women and women's health.

The world's older population has been growing for centuries; however, the pace of this growth is accelerating rapidly. According to the U.S.