ICDSC: Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist
2001Eight-item checklist scored from routine observation across a nursing shift; suited to screening all ICU patients including those who cannot communicate.
Classification
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Tool and original sources
View the ICDSC on the Vanderbilt CIBS site. It is not reproduced here.
Original and selected diagnostic-accuracy papers
- Original paperBergeron N, Dubois MJ, Dumont M, Dial S, Skrobik Y. Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist: evaluation of a new screening tool. Intensive care medicine. 2001;27(5):859-64. doi: 10.1007/s001340100909. PMID: 11430542.
This is the original published source for ICDSC. It reported sensitivity of 99% and specificity of 64% against an independent DSM-IV clinical assessment.
- Systematic review of diagnostic accuracyGusmao-Flores D, Salluh JI, Chalhub RÁ, Quarantini LC. The confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) and intensive care delirium screening checklist (ICDSC) for the diagnosis of delirium: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical studies. Critical care (London, England). 2012;16(4):R115. doi: 10.1186/cc11407. PMID: 22759376.
This systematic review synthesised diagnostic-accuracy evidence for ICDSC. Across 4 studies involving 361 patients for ICDSC, pooled sensitivity was 74% and specificity was 81.9%.
Article PDF: CC BY. This licence applies to the article PDF and does not grant rights to reproduce the tool.
- Selected diagnostic-accuracy studyvan Eijk MM, van Marum RJ, Klijn IA, de Wit N, Kesecioglu J, Slooter AJ. Comparison of delirium assessment tools in a mixed intensive care unit. Critical care medicine. 2009;37(6):1881-5. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0b013e3181a00118. PMID: 19384206.
This diagnostic-accuracy study evaluated ICDSC in 32-bed mixed medical-surgical ICU against diagnosis by a psychiatrist, neurologist or geriatrician using established criteria. It reported sensitivity of 43% and specificity of 95% in 126 patients.
At a glance
- Purpose
- Episodic assessment
- Population
- Adult
- Setting
- Intensive care
- Time
- completed from routine observations across the preceding 8–24 hours; no separately validated completion time identified
- Items
- 8
- Score or threshold
- 0–8; ≥4 is the standard positive-screen threshold
Format: Usually presented as an eight-row shift checklist. The clinician scores features observed during the preceding shift, sums the eight binary ratings, and records whether the threshold for a positive screen has been reached.
- Strengths: Uses observations accumulated across a nursing shift and can support repeated screening when a brief point-in-time interview may miss fluctuation
- Limitations: A positive screen is not an independent diagnosis. Accuracy varies across settings and studies, and interpretation depends on training, observation quality, arousal and sedation state, communication constraints and use of the intended observation window. Alternative thresholds require local validation.
Evidence
Reported sensitivity and specificity
Original/source study · 2001 — pmid:11430542
- Denominator
- 93 patients
- Reference standard
- Independent consulting board-certified psychiatrist's clinical DSM-IV delirium diagnosis
The original 2001 study (n=93) reported this as ROC-estimated performance (AUC 0.9017). Separately, 14 of the 15 psychiatrist-diagnosed delirium cases scored ≥4. Do not reconstruct a 2 x 2 table from the ROC pair. Pooled estimates vary: 74%/81.9% in 2012 (4 studies; n=361), 83%/87% in 2021 (12 ICDSC studies), and 79%/90% in 2024 (14 ICDSC studies).
More evidence and citation details
- Full name
- Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist
- Training
- Users should understand delirium, arousal and sedation assessment, the observation window and the authorised scoring instructions. Standardised education and local competency checking are advisable.
- Evidence summary
- pooled
- Diagnostic-accuracy studies
- 26
- Reference standard
- Independent consulting psychiatrist's clinical DSM-IV delirium diagnosis
- Real-world use
- Used at scale in general-hospital as well as ICU settings; real-world completion and positivity vary with setting and stage of implementation. (Penfold 2024)
- Citation
- Bergeron N, Dubois MJ, Dumont M, Dial S, Skrobik Y Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist: evaluation of a new screening tool Intensive care medicine. 2001;27(5):859-64. PMID 11430542
Copyright and reuse
- Version
- Use the current ICDSC worksheet supplied by CIBS
- Information checked
- 2026-07-19
Instrument-specific terms apply. See the access and copyright policy or send a correction.
Sources checked 2026-07-25. How profiles are prepared.