Effects of postoperative delirium of patients on family members and their response

The present study aims to clarify how family members are affected by and cope with postoperative delirium in patients. Subjects were ２５ family members of patients who exhibited delirium following a surgical procedure. Family members were evaluated by salivary amylase, self-rated health, Profile of Mood States（POMS）and the empathic coping scale at three points in time : pre-surgery, during the postoperative delirium episode and post-delirium. The NEECHAM Confusion Scale（Japanese version）was used to assess delirium in the patients. Salivary amylase levels of family members were significantly higher during the delirium than pre-surgery and post-delirium. Furthermore, family members experienced Tension-Anxiety and Anger-Hostility as a result of the patients’ postoperative delirium. Family members were not able to use empathic coping to deal with the patient exhibiting postoperative delirium. These results suggest the need for nurses to make an effort to understand the situation being experienced by family members of patients who exhibited postoperative delirium and offer them support to enable them to deal with the patient using empathy.