Quinton Smith doesn’t remember much of what happened one Sunday evening last March. He was disoriented, unable to stand and could not even recognize his girlfriend’s face after she returned home from work.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have found that bathing critically ill patients with disposable chlorhexidine cloths did not decrease the incidence of health care-associated infections when compared to less expensive nonantimicrobial cloths, according to a study appearing online in JAMA this week.

Patients who suffer a longer duration of delirium in the intensive care unit are more likely to experience long-term disability after discharge.

Study suggests that the “kynurenine” biochemical pathway could be a target for reducing delirium and coma in critically ill patients.