{"doi":"10.1093/geront/gnaf243","title":"Delirium optimization with volunteer engagement (DOVE): a retrospective study","abstract":"BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of a local volunteer program, delirium optimization with volunteer engagement (DOVE), in preventing in-hospital delirium. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Between February 2023 and June 2024, volunteers provided structured interventions to patients at risk for delirium, as identified by the Delirium Risk Assessment (DRA) score. Interventions are humanities-based and included sensory aide assistance, completion of \"get to know me\" forms, and conversation. Data were retrospectively acquired from electronic health records and compared to a control cohort from another medical unit. Delirium occurrence was captured when the nursing confusion assessment method (CAM) documentation was positive, or a clinician documented delirium diagnoses. Cohorts were matched 1:2 (DOVE vs Control) by age, gender, DRA score, month/year of admission, and length of hospital stay. RESULTS: A total of 168 patients received interventions by DOVE volunteers, of which 139 were matched with 261 controls. In-hospital delirium occurrence was lower in the DOVE cohort compared to the control cohort (46.8% vs 56.7%; p = .015). Conditional logistic regressions demonstrated a lower odds ratio (OR) for delirium occurrence, 0.55 (95% confidence interval [CI]; 0.34-0.89; p = .015) associated with DOVE intervention. Subgroup analyses of delirium occurrence among patients with DRA score of 3-4 demonstrated an OR of 0.56 (95% CI; 0.31-1.01; p = .053) between the DOVE and control cohorts. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: In-hospital delirium occurrence was ∼10% lower among DOVE cohort patients. This humanities-based intervention offers a feasible strategy, particularly during times of staffing shortages, and should be considered for broader implementation across healthcare institutions.","journal":"The Gerontologist","year":2025,"id":580700,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.923,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1002458,"name":"Wyatt W. Pruter","orcid":"0000-0002-4647-0476","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1492167,"name":"Renu B Boyapati","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1492168,"name":"Laura M Kaster","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":786685,"name":"Karen M. Fischer","orcid":"0000-0001-5037-6100","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1098532,"name":"Stephanie Chambers","orcid":"0000-0002-4158-268X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":869868,"name":"Sandeep R. Pagali","orcid":"0000-0002-0838-1026","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":770472,"name":"Kevin Webb","orcid":"0000-0002-7503-1632","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":29,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:58:43.046112Z","pmid":"41212537","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}