The National Institute of Aging K23 award will allow Dr. Han to develop as an independent investigator in the field of geriatric emergency medicine, and help him establish a research career devoted to the improvement of emergency care in the aging population. He will focus on delirium since it affects 10% of elderly emergency department (ED) patients, especially because this form of organ dysfunction is a major threat to the older patient's quality of life. The candidate's preliminary studies suggest that delirium is missed in 76% of the cases by emergency physicians and is a serious quality of care issue. However, there are significant barriers to improving delirium detection in the ED. First, there are no valid delirium assessments that are feasible to perform in the busy and demanding ED environment. Second, the clinical significance of delirium in the ED remains unknown and must be established in order for the emergency medicine community to accept routine surveillance as a part of standard ED practice. To overcome these obstacles, Dr. Han proposes a series of studies that will 1) develop a novel delirium surveillance for the ED which maximizes efficiency and minimizes ED staff burden, and 2) study how often ED delirium persists into hospitalization and determine how its duration affects 6-month mortality and functional decline. The ED is the gateway of the health care system and cares for over 15 million elderly patients per year. Yet emergency physicians are poorly equipped to take care of this rapidly growing population. Thus, focusing research efforts on the ED is vital to improving the quality of care delivered to the older patient. Such investigations are hampered by the severe shortage of federally funded ED investigators committed to aging research. Dr. Han will participate in a career development training program specifically tailored for his needs. He will take coursework in advanced epidemiology and biostatistics, and neuroscience. He will also spend time with the geriatrics and psychiatric inpatient consult service to learn how to assess the mental status of acutely ill elders. Dr. Han's training will be overseen by a multidisciplinary group of highly skilled and qualified mentors. By leveraging this plan with institutional strengths, he is poised to alter the way emergency physicians detect and treat elderly patients with delirium. Dr. Han's future goal is to develop ED-based delirium interventions based upon the data accrued from this proposal. These interventions will emphasize early diagnosis and treatment of delirium in the ED, and will potentially have a profound impact in the way ED cares for older adults.

Public Health Relevance

Delirium is a form of organ dysfunction that is characterized by an acute change in mental status, inattention, and either disorganized thinking or an altered level of consciousness. Although delirium is associated with a wide range of negative patient outcomes, physicians miss delirium at an alarmingly high rate. The candidate will therefore develop a delirium surveillance system specifically tailored for the challenging ED environment and establish its clinical significance so that routine ED screening of delirium can be justified.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23AG032355-02
Application #
8073128
Study Section
National Institute on Aging Initial Review Group (NIA)
Program Officer
Wagster, Molly V
Project Start
2010-07-01
Project End
2015-06-30
Budget Start
2011-07-01
Budget End
2012-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$149,013
Indirect Cost
Name
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Department
Emergency Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
004413456
City
Nashville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37212
Han, Jin H; Hayhurst, Christina J; Chandrasekhar, Rameela et al. (2018) Delirium's Arousal Subtypes and Their Relationship with 6-Month Functional Status and Cognition. Psychosomatics :
Marra, Annachiara; Jackson, James C; Ely, E Wesley et al. (2018) Focusing on Inattention: The Diagnostic Accuracy of Brief Measures of Inattention for Detecting Delirium. J Hosp Med 13:551-557
Han, Jin H; Brummel, Nathan E; Chandrasekhar, Rameela et al. (2017) Exploring Delirium's Heterogeneity: Association Between Arousal Subtypes at Initial Presentation and 6-Month Mortality in Older Emergency Department Patients. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 25:233-242
Han, Jin H; Vasilevskis, Eduard E; Chandrasekhar, Rameela et al. (2017) Delirium in the Emergency Department and Its Extension into Hospitalization (DELINEATE) Study: Effect on 6-month Function and Cognition. J Am Geriatr Soc 65:1333-1338
Morandi, Alessandro; Han, Jin H; Meagher, David et al. (2016) Detecting Delirium Superimposed on Dementia: Evaluation of the Diagnostic Performance of the Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale. J Am Med Dir Assoc 17:828-33
Han, Jin H; Wilson, Amanda; Graves, Amy J et al. (2016) A quick and easy delirium assessment for nonphysician research personnel. Am J Emerg Med 34:1031-6
Yevchak, Andrea M; Han, Jin Ho; Doherty, Kelly et al. (2015) Impaired Arousal in Older Adults Is Associated With Prolonged Hospital Stay and Discharge to Skilled Nursing Facility. J Am Med Dir Assoc 16:586-9
Han, Jin H; Vasilevskis, Eduard E; Schnelle, John F et al. (2015) The Diagnostic Performance of the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale for Detecting Delirium in Older Emergency Department Patients. Acad Emerg Med 22:878-82
Han, Jin H; Vasilevskis, Eduard E (2015) Ultrabrief delirium assessments--are they ready for primetime? J Hosp Med 10:694-5
Gaspardo, Pietro; Peressoni, Luca; Comisso, Irene et al. (2014) Delirium among critically ill adults: evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Italian 'Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit'. Intensive Crit Care Nurs 30:283-91

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