[Prevalence of cognitive impairments in acute nursing care-Analysis and comparison of routine data]. / Prävalenz kognitiver Beeinträchtigungen in der pflegerischen Akutversorgung ­ Analyse und Vergleich von Routinedaten.

BACKGROUND: Due to demographic changes an increasing prevalence of hospitalized patients suffering from cognitive impairments must be assumed. To enable the best possible treatment a routine procedure is necessary to detect this group of patients early on admission. METHOD: The current study assessed the prevalence rate of cognitive impairment in inpatients >65 years who were tested by the mini mental state examination (MMSE) during admission. Based on the screening quota the willingness of nurses to use the MMSE as a routine instrument was tested. The quota was also compared to the number of diagnoses coded as F in the ICD-10-GM. This retrospective study was conducted from October 2018 to March 2019 at a university hospital. RESULTS: Of the 7311 inpatients >65 years, 11.7% were screened. The prevalence of cognitive impairments was 20.7% and was higher than the prevalence rate of dementia and delirium on the basis of medical diagnoses (p <0.001). With only 11.7% the willingness of the nursing staff to use the MMSE to assess cognitive impairments during patient admission was low. CONCLUSION: The higher prevalence confirms the necessity to detect patients with cognitive disorders; however, the low willingness to use the MMSE suggests that a shorter instrument should be used and more information should be provided to nurses about patients with cognitive impairments.