Postoperative Delirium in Poland - a Survey Assessing the Level of Knowledge of the POD Problem Among the Staff of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Departments.

Postoperative Delirium (POD) is one of the most common complications occurring after surgery with an incidence ranging from 4 to 53%. It may lead to increased postoperative morbidity and mortality, with loss of independence and cognitive dysfunction in certain groups of patients. Aiming to reduce the incidence of POD and improve the outcome of patients diagnosed with POD, it is necessary to raise awareness regarding POD. The most important issue are: identification of risk factors, improved monitoring, necessary prevention and adequate treatment. The Polish Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy (PTAiIT) has made an attempt to improve the situation in Poland by testing the implementation of official POD guidelines published by the European Society of Anesthesiology in year 2017. While the guidelines provide recommendations for daily practice it is necessary to identify the degree of their implementation in each country. Therefore survey has been prepared regarding postoperative delirium in Poland. This Survey has been submitted to the Bioethical Committee of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin (Poland) and received a waiver due to the non-interventional, observational character of the study (decision no. KB-0012/06/01/2020/Z).