“Never the Same” After Surgery: Postoperative Delirium and Early Postoperative Cognitive Decline

An increasing number of older people today receive surgical treatment. Advances in surgical and anesthesia methods, together with better perioperative nursing care, have resulted in safer operations and lower rates of serious complications.1 However, much less is known about the older persons brain health and the occurrence of delayed, or incomplete cognitive recovery.2-4 One reason is that that clinical evaluation of cognition is not a routine part of pre- and postoperative evaluation.5 It is therefore often the patient and/or a relative who in the first instance detects a change in cognitive capacity after surgery, typically when resuming daily activities,6 leading to that the older person is “never the same” after surgery.

Source: Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing - June 1, 2021 Category: Nursing Authors: Ulrica Nilsson, Lina Bergman Tags: The Back Page Source Type: research