Delirium Family Guide
Medical and editorial policy
Last reviewed
Purpose
DeliriumFamilyGuide.com provides information about the forthcoming book Delirium (Acute Confusion): A Family Guide to Sudden Changes in Thinking and Memory. The website and the book have the same purpose: to help patients, families and carers understand delirium and respond to it. The book offers greater depth in a structured Kindle or print format that can be read in full or kept nearby for reference.
Authors
The guide is written by Professor Alasdair MacLullich and Dr Sharmella Summan. Professor MacLullich is Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and a consultant physician at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He developed the 4AT delirium assessment tool and co-chaired the Scottish national guideline on delirium (SIGN 157, 2019). Dr Summan is a doctor who has cared for people with delirium and experienced severe delirium herself while in intensive care.
Professor MacLullich has editorial responsibility for medical information on this website. His credentials and research record can be checked through his University of Edinburgh profile, research profile, ORCID record, Google Scholar profile, Wikipedia article and personal website.
Medical information
The information on this website is general and educational. It is not individual medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, and it does not replace assessment or care from a healthcare professional.
Sudden confusion needs prompt medical assessment. If this is happening now, read what to do now on Delirium Support and follow the urgent or emergency advice for the place where the person is.
How the content is prepared
The website gives a short account of the book and does not reproduce the book’s full explanations or references. Medical statements are checked for consistency with established delirium guidance and the authors’ clinical, research and lived experience. Substantive reviews are dated, and material factual errors will be corrected.
Excerpts from Chapter 1 are reproduced word for word from the book.
Sources for figures on this website
About one in four older people in hospital have delirium. A review of 33 studies found delirium in 23% of adults on hospital medical wards: Gibb K and colleagues, Age and Ageing, 2020 (doi:10.1093/ageing/afaa040).
Recovery varies. Reviews of older hospital patients with delirium found that about 36% to 45% still had delirium when they left hospital, and about 16% a year later. Sources: Cole MG and colleagues, Age and Ageing, 2009 (doi:10.1093/ageing/afn253); Whitby J and colleagues, Delirium, 2022 (doi:10.56392/001c.36822).
Quotations from patients and families
The page In their words quotes short passages from accounts published by health services, universities, charities and medical journals. Each quotation is copied word for word as published and links to its source. The people quoted have no connection with the book and have not endorsed it. The quotations were checked against their sources on 24 September 2026.
Independence
This is an independent publication website maintained by Delirium Support Press. It is not an official website of the University of Edinburgh, the NHS or NHS Lothian, and those organisations are not responsible for its content.
This website provides information about a forthcoming book by its authors. It carries no advertising, affiliate links or paid medical sponsorship. Linked websites have their own editorial responsibility.
Corrections and contact
Factual corrections, accessibility problems and questions about this policy may be sent to alasdair@the4at.com.