Postoperative 3-item combination — Postoperative three-item ultrabrief combination

What this tool is and how to interpret its evidence

This record represents a three-item combination identified in a study of ultrabrief postoperative delirium screening. Yevchak Sillner and colleagues compared brief combinations in cognitively intact older surgical patients and identified options that balanced sensitivity with specificity. The publication is useful evidence about efficient case-finding after surgery, but it did not establish a stable branded instrument with a separate manual, development programme or independent validation history.

The reported sensitivity and specificity belong to the tested cohort and chosen combination. They should not be presented as if they were pooled estimates for a universally recognised three-item tool. Performance may change in people with dementia, sensory impairment, different surgery types or assessments performed at other postoperative times. A positive ultrabrief result also requires an appropriate diagnostic follow-up.

The route can remain as an evidence or workflow page within the ultrabrief-screening family. It should be excluded from the independent-family count and linked to UB-2 and other established ultrabrief pathways. The page may describe that three cognitive or observational elements were combined and report the study setting and accuracy, but it need not reproduce the questions. If the authors or a subsequent study publish a fixed named form with explicit administration instructions and external validation, the record can later be promoted to a version page.