AiD-DST — Aetiology in Delirium Diagnostic Support Tool

What this tool is and how to interpret its evidence

The Aetiology in Delirium Diagnostic Support Tool is designed for a different stage of care from a delirium screen. Once delirium has been recognised, AiD-DST guides clinicians through a structured consideration of multiple possible causes and contributors. It reflects the fact that delirium is often multifactorial and that time-pressured assessment can stop after the first plausible explanation.

Eeles and colleagues reported development and validation of the clinical algorithm in 2021. A later electronic version underwent iterative technical refinement, think-aloud testing with junior doctors and usability evaluation. These studies support potential utility and acceptability, but they do not show that the tool detects delirium or improves patient outcomes. The support process also cannot replace examination, medication review, investigations or senior clinical judgement.

AiD-DST should be added to an aetiology and management-support collection, not to the detection-tool core. The page can explain its post-detection purpose, decision-support format, development evidence and usability work. It should not reproduce the full causal algorithm or imply that every contributor can be found by a fixed pathway. The primary and electronic pilot publications provide authoritative detail. Future implementation research should examine whether use changes diagnostic yield, treatment timeliness, unnecessary testing, adverse events and outcomes in varied services.