Home › Cheat Sheets › Psychosocial Integrity

Dementia vs Delirium — NCLEX Cheat Sheet

One is permanent, one is reversible
🔖 Save
👤 By the CinnaRN Clinical Content Team 🕐 Updated 2026-08-31 🏷️ Psychosocial Integrity 🔖 Free to read, print, and share
💡

Use this quick-reference guide to spot, treat, and prevent Dementia vs Delirium on the NCLEX. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!

🩺

📒 The 1-minute cheat sheet

📌 Delirium — Acute

  • Sudden onset, fluctuates through the day
  • Always has a physical cause
  • Infection, hypoxia, drugs, electrolytes, retention, pain
  • REVERSIBLE if the cause is treated

📌 Dementia — Chronic

  • Gradual onset over months to years
  • Progressive, from brain damage
  • NOT reversible

📌 What To Say

  • Delirium: remove the cause, reassure they are safe
  • Dementia: acknowledge, then REDIRECT
  • Never present reality to dementia
  • Never restrain for confusion alone
✨

Quick Tip

Focus on the highlighted numbers and the red-flag items — those are what the NCLEX tests most on dementia vs delirium.

📖 Related Topics

Therapeutic Communication TechniquesDefense MechanismsCrisis InterventionGrief and Loss
Was this helpful? ✎ Suggest an edit

Master Dementia vs Delirium with practice, not just reading

4,000+ NCLEX-style questions with rationales, 51 interactive NGN cases, and an AI tutor — free every day, no card needed.

Practice Psychosocial Integrity questions free →
Download on theApp Store GET IT ONGoogle Play USE IT ON YOURLaptop · Web

One account — your progress syncs across phone, tablet & laptop.

Related Psychosocial Integrity cheat sheets

Therapeutic Communication TechniquesOpen-ended, patient-centered Defense MechanismsUnconscious anxiety protection Crisis InterventionShort-term, here-and-now focus Grief and LossNormal vs complicated grieving Irritable Bowel SyndromeFunctional, no structural damage Neonatal Abstinence SyndromeWithdrawal from maternal opioids Major Depressive Disorder≥ 5 sx, 2+ weeks Bipolar DisorderMania ≥ 1 wk = priority

🔥 Most-searched NCLEX cheat sheets

HypokalemiaK+ < 3.5 mEq/L HyperkalemiaK+ > 5.0 mEq/L Digoxin ToxicityDig level > 2.0 ng/mL Heart FailurePump fails → congestion HydralazineDirect arteriolar vasodilator MontelukastLeukotriene blocker → PREVENTION only TheophyllineNarrow range: 10-20 mcg/mL Desmopressin (DDAVP)Synthetic ADH → water retention HemophiliaX-linked, ↓ clotting factor Polycythemia Vera↑↑ RBCs → thick blood Fluid Volume Deficit (dehydration)Fluid loss > intake PheochromocytomaAdrenal tumor → catecholamine surge Multiple MyelomaPlasma cell cancer → bone + Ca↑ Pain Assessment (PQRST)Pain is what the patient says it is