s-DOSS — Short Delirium Observation Screening Scale

What this tool is and how to interpret its evidence

The short Delirium Observation Screening Scale, or s-DOSS, is a nine-item version of the established 13-item DOSS. It is intended for repeated nursing observation of hospitalised adults and was developed to reduce documentation burden while retaining the parent scale's case-finding role. The validation publication evaluated a threshold of 2 or more. An exact bedside completion time was not reported, so this catalogue does not attach an unsupported minute estimate.

Milisen and colleagues selected the short form using psychometric methods and evaluated it against CAM classification in 113 patients. The first report described sensitivity of 90.9% and specificity of 92.2%. These are single-cohort results rather than pooled performance, and they may change with case mix, observation opportunity, training and pre-existing cognitive impairment. A positive result should prompt clinical assessment rather than be treated as a final diagnosis.

Importantly, the journal issued a 2026 corrigendum after an error was found in the published appendix's scoring instruction for item 7. Users must use the corrected form and scoring. This site does not reproduce the item or correction wording; users should obtain the corrected form and read the corrigendum before implementation. The page identifies s-DOSS as a short version within the DOSS family, excludes it from the independent-family count, and links both the primary study and correction.