October 9, 2026
A recent article published in Anesthesia & Analgesia describes findings from an IMPACT Demonstration Project conducted by Ira Hofer, MD and Susana Vacas, MD, PhD that tested whether artificial intelligence–driven clinical decision support could help prevent postoperative delirium in surgical patients with cognitive impairment.
The study examined whether a non-interruptive electronic health record intervention could identify patients with cognitive impairment before surgery and encourage anesthesia teams to follow recommended perioperative practices.
Researchers found no statistically significant differences between the intervention and routine-care groups in postoperative delirium or adherence to 12 perioperative best practices.
However, fewer than 20 percent of participants had a documented delirium assessment because routine screening practices varied. This limited the researchers’ ability to determine whether the intervention was effective and points to the need for more consistent screening in future studies.