Abstract

Background Non-pharmacological interventions (NPI) to prevent delirium are useful to decrease delirium incidence in hospitalized older adults, however, they are poorly implemented in clinical practice. The need of trained healthcare personnel, and the time expended in their implementation, are the most common arguments used to explain that. We propose the use of technology to solve that problems. Objective To develop a software to improve the patient access to NPI to prevent delirium in a hospital setting. Methods A multidisciplinary team composed of physicians, occupational therapists, nurse, physiotherapist, designers and engineers participate in the software development. Scrum methodology was used to produce several versions of the software and get feedback from the multidisciplinary team. A review of the literature about NPI to prevent delirium in elderly patients hospitalized in general ward, and about the optimal characteristic of touch-screen technology to improve older adult accessibility was carried out. The software was evaluated by elderly people in whom general characteristics of the software, accessibility with and without previous use instruction, and their interest to use the software during the hospitalization were assessed by a standardized evaluation. Results The NPI incorporated in the software were: Time and spatial reorientation, cognitive stimulation, early mobilization, sleep hygiene, promotion of use of sensorial support, and optimization of pain management. The software was evaluated by elderly people (n=36), with an average age of 79y; education years: 8.3y: previous use of touch-screen technology 23%. 90% of older adults can access to all software functions without instruction and 100% after training. 100% of the evaluated older adults state that they like to use the software during their hospitalization. Conclusion A highly accessible software designed to prevent delirium in hospitalized elderly patients was developed. The effectiveness of the software to prevent delirium will be tested in a randomized clinical trial.