title: Towards an understanding of why undergraduate teaching about delirium does not guarantee gold-standard practice--results from a UK national survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  delirium is common and serious, yet frequently missed by medical staff. It is known that delirium is widely taught and examined in UK medical schools; however, what is taught, and how such teaching is delivered, remains unknown. The primary aim of this study was to determine the content of UK undergraduate medical education about delirium and establish how it is delivered. A secondary aim was to highlight and share examples of gold-standard teaching on delirium.
  
  
  METHODS
  all UK undergraduate medical schools were invited to complete a survey. Schools were asked to describe how delirium was taught and to provide delirium-related learning outcomes. Learning outcomes were mapped to the three overarching themes outlined in Tomorrow's Doctors (knowledge, skills and attitudes).
  
  
  RESULTS
  24/31 schools (77%) provided responses. In line with previous work, delirium was widely taught and examined. 18/24 schools reported at least one learning outcome that mapped to the knowledge domain, 19/24 for the skills domain and 2/24 for the attitudes domain. 4/24 evaluated the impact of sessions and 3/24 involved patients and the public in teaching. 13/24 schools were confident that exposure to delirium was guaranteed. Innovative teaching methods were reported by a number of schools; weblinks to examples are provided.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  there was widespread failure to address attitudes on delirium within teaching, to evaluate the impact of sessions, to involve patients and the public in teaching and to guarantee exposure to delirium. Future teaching interventions should be directed at attitudinal outcomes, using a synthesis of clinical experience with multidisciplinary interaction and supportive technologies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Wansbeck General Hospital, Woodhorn Lane, Ashington, Northumberland, UK.
authors.forename: James Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing, University of Nottingham, Medical School, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Adam Lee
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Alasdair M J
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: MacLullich
authors.affiliation: Newcastle NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Ageing and Chronic Disease, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tullo
authors.affiliation: University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK Cambridge Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Daniel H J
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Health Care of the Older Person, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blundell
authors.affiliation: Newcastle University Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Field
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Education, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teodorczuk
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003479:Curriculum; D003693:Delirium / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards*; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: delirium; education; geriatric medicine; older people; teaching; undergraduate