Introduction: Delirium is associated with high morbidity and mortality. There are no available instruments validated for evaluation and follow-up of this syndrome in Columbia.
Methods: An expert's panel adapted the Spanish DRSR- 98. In 110, randomly selected, medical-surgical hospitalized patients, 17 (15.5 %) of them with delirium diagnosed with DSM-IV-TR criteria, the inter-rater reliability, validity and sensitivity to clinical change of the new adaptation of the scale were measured.
Results: Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.956), inter- rater reliability (ICC: 0.95) and validity (94.8 % under the ROC curve area) were very good. For the Cut-off score of 14 for the total scale score, sensitivity was 82.4% and specificity 97.8 %. The scale was sensitive to clinical change, with a mean difference of 12.9 (t: 4.071; p=0.007).
Conclusions: The Colombian adaptation of the Spanish DRS-R-98 is sensitive, specific and reliable for assessment of delirium in hospitalized adults in medical surgical settings.