DTS/bCAM combination — Delirium Triage Screen/Brief Confusion Assessment Method combination

What this tool is and how to interpret its evidence

The DTS/bCAM combination is a two-stage emergency-department pathway rather than a separate questionnaire. The Delirium Triage Screen was designed as a rapid, sensitive first step. Patients who do not screen negative then receive the more specific brief Confusion Assessment Method. Han and colleagues evaluated both components and the paired strategy in older emergency patients against a specialist reference assessment.

The value of the pathway lies in using different performance characteristics sequentially: a quick rule-out step followed by a more specific assessment. Reported pathway accuracy belongs to that order, training and emergency-department population. It should not be assumed that either component has the same performance when used alone, in reverse order or in a different clinical service.

The site should keep a workflow page because clinicians may search for the combined approach, but the page must link to DTS and bCAM and exclude the combination from the independent instrument-family count. It can explain the two-stage purpose and provide the primary evidence without reproducing either tool's operational content. Both component forms should be obtained from authorised sources. The workflow also does not remove the need for clinical evaluation of a positive result or for investigation and treatment of the underlying acute illness.