The subtle differences between the presentations of delirium and dementia create much confusion for physicians who have not been trained to distinguish between the two cognitive dysfunctions. Serena Chao, M.D. of the Boston University School of Medicine has developed an interactive, multimedia online curriculum to help medical students in their clinical years recognize signs and symptoms of delirium. Dr. Chao’s product, Delirium in Older Patients: An Online Case-Based Curriculum, takes advantage of the advances in e-learning formats to present a detailed summary of the vital aspects of delirium in older patients.

Designed specifically for medical students completing a required Geriatrics rotation or during a Medicine clerkship, this multi-faceted approach serves well as a supplement to clinical encounters. The Delirium in Older Patients: An Online Case-Based Curriculum product consists of two modules, each with separate videos and PowerPoint presentations that cover the broad topics of diagnosis, evaluation, and management of delirium. This product uses videos to simulate patient visits, mock patient charts to supplement the video component, and PowerPoint presentations providing didactic teaching methods and informal quizzes.

Dr. Chao’s modules depict many of the characteristics of delirium including risk factors and drugs that may induce delirium, forms of delirium, and prevention of delirium. Additionally, these modules introduce methods to distinguish between delirium and dementia, evaluation methods for delirious elders (such as the CAM method), management of patients, restraint use, and the incidence rates of delirium. As America’s older adult population grows over the next several decades, it is of vital importance that delirium, an extremely common condition, be understood. The lessons taught in Dr. Chao’s product should help students appreciate the severity of the problem, better recognize the presentation, and understand its urgency and how to treat it.

For the doctors of tomorrow, the issues of older patients will be omnipresent. Yet, while they will be caring for more and more patients from generations far removed from their own, the way in which they expect to be taught is sure to be cutting edge. This multimedia online curriculum is an excellent example of a new delivery method for critical information, and certainly this product will prove to be useful to any medical student in their clinical years.