Introduction:

The increase in ageing, as well as the social and health care it requires, has led to an exponential increase in the number of institutionalised residents. In this context, delirium is a common and very distressing condition, with a great biopsycho-social-economic impact on both the patient and his or her environment. Despite being a potentially preventable entity, it continues to be under-treated and under-diagnosed.

Objective:

To analyze the existing scientific evidence on the management of delirium in elderly people in long-term care residential facilities.

Methodology:

Narrative review by means of bibliographic searches in databases related to the Health Sciences CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane Library, CUIDEN and LILACS, as well as in the meta-searches Dialnet Plus and Google Academic.

Results:

19 articles were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The analysis of the documents generated two categories: physiological and environmental control measures for the prevention of delirium and therapeutic intervention strategies. As findings, nonpharmacological multidisciplinary strategies may be effective in preventing delirium, as well as early identification of risk factors and educational programs directed at nurses serving this population. In this way, the most effective and economical measure to address this entity in its initial phase, prevention, will be exercised.

Conclusion:

There were few statistically significant findings on associations between interventions and delirium prevention in institutions. If the health and well-being of residents is to be optimized, future research must be specific and robust, avoiding the challenges of these environments.

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