Confusion and mental decline due to hospitalization

[Tariq Zaki]

Being ill, particularly when it involves taking drugs for pain or anxiety, can make anyone confused. The hospital environment adds to the problem. There, people give up their personal effects and clothing—marks of their identity—for a hospital gown. They are in a strange place without familiar landmarks and usual routines. Often, hospitals provide little stimulation (such as sights, sounds, and interaction with other people). People may be alone or with an uncommunicative roommate in a room that has blank white walls and bland, institutionalized furnishings. For most of the time, there may be no one to talk with. The only sound available may be that from a television.
Hospital procedures and schedules can be disorienting. For example, people may be awakened frequently during the night, depriving them of needed sleep. They may be unable to get their bearings in an unfamiliar, dimly lit room. The many tests and the complicated equipment may be overwhelming.
Intensive care units (ICUs) can be even more confusing. People in ICUs are alone, sometimes with no windows or clocks to help them orient themselves. The beeping of electronic monitors, constant bright light, and frequent interruptions to take blood, to change intravenous (IV) tubes, or to give drugs may interfere with sleeping. People who are tired are more easily confused and disoriented. Sometimes confusion is so severe that people develop a type of delirium called ICU psychosis.
If people become unusually confused while staying in a hospital, family members should tell staff members so they do not assume that it is the person