Managing delirium in everyday practice: towards cognitive-friendly hospitals

Summary Providing optimal healthcare for increasingly elderly hospital populations who have high rates of cognitive disorder is a great challenge. Using delirium as an example, we describe how improved management of acute cognitive problems through a multifaceted hospital-wide programme can promote cognitive-friendly hospital environments. A specific plan of action is described that spans interventions in day-to-day clinical care of individual patients all the way to wider organisational practices. Learning Objectives • Understand the concept of cognitive friendliness and how addressing the problem of delirium can contribute to this in our healthcare system. • Become more aware of specific aspects of a cognitive-friendly programme and how these can be implemented in practice. • Explore the key outstanding issues for research that can further enhance our awareness of cognitive-friendly practices.