can delirium research activity impact on routine delirium recognition a prospective cohort study objective to assess if ongoing delirium research activity within an acute admissions unit impacts on prevalent delirium recognitiondesign prospective cohort studysetting singlesite tertiary university teaching hospitalparticipants 125 patients with delirium as diagnosed by an expert using diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders fourth edition reference criteria were recruited to a prospective cohort study investigating use of informant tools to detect unrecognised dementia this study evaluated recognition of delirium and documentation of delirium by medical staffinterventions the main study followed an observational design the intervention discussed was the implementation of this study itselfprimary and secondary outcome measures the primary outcome was recognition of delirium by the admitting medical team prior to study diagnosis secondary outcomes included recording of or description of delirium in discharge summaries and factors which may be associated with unrecognised deliriumresults delirium recognition improved between the first half 48 and second half 71 of recruitment p001 there was no difference in recording of delirium or description of delirium in the text of discharge summariesconclusion delirium research activity can improve recognition of delirium this has the potential to improve patient outcomes