• Gülay Altun Uğraş, Sultan Babayigit, Keziban Tosun, Güler Aksoy, and Yüksel Turan.
• Sultan Babayigit, RN, is a Registered Nurse, Istanbul Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey. Keziban Tosun, RN, is Head Nurse, Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Neurosurgery Department, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey. Güler Aksoy, PhD, is Professor, Nursing High School, Department of Surgical Nursing, Halic University, Istanbul, Turkey. Yüksel Turan, RN, is a Registered Nurse, Istanbul Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
• J Neurosci Nurs. 2015 Apr 1; 47 (2): 104-12.

BackgroundSleep disturbance in an intensive care unit is a common problem. One of the main factors causing sleep disturbances in an intensive care unit is nocturnal patient care interventions.Aims And ObjectivesThis study aims to determine the impact of patient care interventions performed at night in a neurosurgical intensive care unit on patients' sleep and their nursing care satisfaction.MethodsThe descriptive study was conducted on 82 patients in a neurosurgical intensive care unit between January 2009 and March 2010. The data were collected by data collection instruments and Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scales. The data were statistically analyzed by frequency, mean, standard deviation, chi-square, and Mann-Whitney U test.ResultsThe study showed that 53.7% of the patients experienced sleep disturbances in the neurosurgical intensive care unit. Because of nursing interventions at night, 39.1% of these patients had their sleep affected, but this problem did not cause any negative impact on the patients' satisfaction (Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scales score = 88.21 ± 9.83). The patients received, on average, 42.21 ± 7.45 times patient care interventions at night; however, the frequency of patient care interventions at night showed no effect on sleep disturbances in this study (p > .05). The most frequently given patient care interventions were, respectively, vital signs monitoring, neurological assessment, and repositioning in bed. These interventions were performed commonly at 6 a.m., 12 a.m., and 7 p.m.ConclusionIn this study, despite the patients reporting sleep disturbances in the neurosurgical intensive care unit because of nocturnal patient care interventions that prevented them from sleeping, the patients' satisfaction on the given nursing care was not negatively impacted. To reduce sleep disturbances because of nursing care initiatives and promote uninterrupted sleep in the intensive care unit, it can be useful to develop new protocols regulating night care activities.

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