Delirium is an abrupt change in human brain that develops rapidly and fluctuates during the day. Age and dementia are the risk factors for development of delirium. Delirium is detected in 5 – 85% of the patients depending on the study. With needed risk assessment and predictive care procedure the development of Delirium can be prevented. (Laurila ym.2006,7; Tilvis, 2015,378-384)

The purpose of this thesis was to pilot the questionnaire that has been created in previous thesis. The questionnaire explores the experiences of nursing staff of the delirium patients over 65 years old. I defined three main questions for the thesis: What are the experiences of nursing staff of the over 65 years old delirium patients, what kind of training nursing staff needs related to treatment of over 65 years old delirium patients, results from the use of the questionnaire created in previous thesis.

The questionnaire was sent to nursing staff of one University Hospital. The nursing staff included nurses and practical nurses (N=103). The questionnaire was replied by 24 nurses and final respond rate was 23%.

As a main conclusion can be identified that the risk assessment of delirium is not done often enough in the hospital unit. Measurements for identifying Delirium are not really used in the hospital unit and the symptoms of delirium fluctuates during the day. Training for the prevention of Delirium and use of pharmacological treatment should be increased. Need for improvement was highlighted for rules and unified practices.