Stage 6 — Evaluate outcomes. Review the 12-hour trend after monitored, protocol-guided treatment and select the best interpretation and next plan.
Trend
Choose your responses, then check the answer.
Explanation
Trend interpretation Controlled agitation, resolution of hallucinations and autonomic hyperactivity, improving orientation, and stable respiration show clinical improvement without current oversedation. Continue monitored reassessment, transition medication only as the protocol and clinical response permit, revisit alternative causes if delirium persists or returns, and begin a warm handoff to ongoing AUD treatment when cognition permits.
Step 1 — Read efficacy and safety together RASS moves from agitation toward calm wakefulness, hallucinations stop, attention and orientation improve, and BP and HR fall. Stable respiratory rate and oxygen saturation argue against current medication-induced respiratory compromise.
Step 2 — Avoid diagnostic overclaim Improvement with benzodiazepine supports the working hypothesis but does not prove that every postoperative alternative has been excluded. Persistent or recurrent delirium requires renewed medical and neurologic assessment.
Step 3 — De-escalate safely Continue close monitoring. Once calm and cooperative, a protocol may transition IV treatment to oral symptom-triggered therapy. Do not abruptly stop treatment or discharge solely because one score improved.
Step 4 — Connect withdrawal care to AUD treatment Withdrawal management alone is not long-term treatment. As cognitive status permits, engage the client in evidence-based AUD treatment and arrange a warm handoff rather than offering a medication list without assessment.