• Kirsten M Eliassen and Laila A Hopstock.
• Department of Cardiology, Division of Cardiothoracic and Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsø, Norway. kirsten.marie.eliassen@unn.no
• Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2011 Jun 1;27(3):138-42.

AbstractSleep deprivation is common amongst patients in intensive care units (ICU) and can lead to physiological and psychological dysfunctions that affect the healing process and increase morbidity and mortality. A focus on the effects of the ICU environment on patient sleep quality has lead to strategies for improvements in patient care. The aim of this small-scale study was to investigate the perceptions of the sleep-promoting interventions that ICU nurses believe they provide. A review of the literature identified four main approaches, i.e., noise reduction, light reduction, patient comfort improvement and clustering of patient care activities, to allow uninterrupted time for adequate sleep. A questionnaire was created to collect information on the nurses' interventions to promote night- and daytime patient sleep in accordance with the literature findings. A total of 25 ICU nurses working in an ICU with medical and surgical patients at the University Hospital of Northern Norway completed the e-mail-administered web-based questionnaire. The ICU nurses reported an overall interest and awareness in sleep-promoting interventions utilising all four approaches, but the challenge of caring for critically ill patients with demands of frequent assessment and nursing may influence which interventions are prioritised.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

8 keywords...

hide…