EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE PROJECT REPORT Submitted to the School of Nursing and Health Professions of Colorado Christian University Lakewood, Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of DOCTOR OF NURSING PRACTICE Delirium, or acute confusion contributes to patients' adverse outcomes, including increased length of hospital stay, increased fall rates, dementia, and increased mortality. Hospital prevalence rates of delirium are underdiagnosed in the acute care medical-surgical population. In this evidence-based practice project, the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) was used to assess patients for delirium who otherwise may not be recognized as having acute confusion. The purpose of this project was to educate Registered Nurses (RNs) in an acute care medical-surgical unit on delirium, the Confusion Assessment Method tool to recognize delirium, and the relation of identifying delirium to the confusion/disorientation/impulsivity element of the Hendrich II Fall Risk Assessment to further recognize patients that may be a high fall risk. Two months of baseline data on delirium recognition was compared to two months of data collection after the RNs were assigned an educational intervention to assess for delirium using the CAM. The goal was to evaluate for increased recognition of delirium and the relation to fall risk scores. The data were analyzed using t-tests and chi squared statistical testing. The results were significant based on the alpha value of .05, t (34) = -5.74, p <. 001, indicating that the educational intervention was meaningful in educating the nurses on delirium, the utilization of the Confusion Assessment Method, and the connection to the confusion/disorientation/impulsivity element of the Hendrich II Fall Risk Assessment.