Delirium in the ICU
All In The Mind
ABC Australia
4.5 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 24 July 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s a condition which affects some patients who end up in intensive care … and can continue after they’re released from hospital.
People often experience paranoia and fear, sometimes believing doctors are trying to kill them or that ghostly figures have visited during the night.
Disrupted sleep, bright lights, the endless beeping of alarms — all are thought to play a role in bringing on the condition.
On All in the Mind this week, delirium in the ICU – and how our hospital system might be redesigned to reduce it.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an ABC podcast. |
| 0:10.0 | ICUs or intensive care units save tens of thousands of lives every year. |
| 0:15.2 | But they can also be scary places, not just for family or friends who are visiting, |
| 0:19.7 | their very sick loved ones, |
| 0:21.4 | but for patients themselves. There were multiple times at night time, especially when I would |
| 0:27.1 | wake up screaming because I just couldn't deal with it anymore. It was like this evil, dark. |
| 0:37.0 | They didn't even have a face. |
| 0:41.0 | It's surprisingly common for ICU patients to experience an acute confusion state called delirium, |
| 0:47.8 | which can involve terrifying hallucinations. |
| 0:50.6 | And there seems to be something about ICU's in particular that leave patients prone to delirium. |
| 0:58.1 | You're listening to All In The Mind. I'm Sana Khadar. |
| 1:01.2 | Today, Delirium in the ICU. |
| 1:03.9 | Producer Jennifer Leak has this week's episode. |
| 1:06.2 | Thank you. I was hallucinating that certain nurses were going to kill me. |
| 1:19.2 | What's it like? It's like being in jail. |
| 1:22.8 | At one stage, I thought I had Asama bin Laden operating on it. |
| 1:26.8 | These are testimonials from real patients voiced by actors. |
| 1:30.8 | They're describing what it was like to have delirium in intensive care. |
| 1:35.4 | I dreamt that they had captured me and castrated me. |
| 1:39.3 | I hate not. |
| 1:47.0 | And I said to my wife, I'm not safe here. I was so frustrated that I said, |
| 1:50.0 | I was so frustrated that I said, |
... |
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