Authors (including presenting author) :
Cheung SH, Wong CY
Affiliation :
North District Hospital Intensive Care Unit
Introduction :
Sleep is essential for survival human beings and plays a major role in many physiologic functions. In addition, sleep promotes repair, re-organization and causes reduction in stress, anxiety and neurology pressure. Patients hospitalized in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were found to have poor sleep quality, and many literatures have raised the major issue of sleep disturbances in critically ill patients. Severe irregularity in circadian rhythm and sleep cycle as well as decreased total sleep and sleep efficiency further worsen ICU patients’ illness. As a result, sleep improvement is definitely important and therefore become a goal of care in the ICU
Objectives :
1)To carry out sleep-promoting interventions included earplugs and eye masks application in order to improve ICU patients’ sleep quality and promote their recovery; 2) To enhance staff’s awareness on sleep-promoting interventions.
Methodology :
Nurses are responsible for explaining the purpose and introducing the aim of this study to those potential participants. Participants were needed NDH ICU for at least 2 nights. There are no any interventions to participants during the first night of stay as a control group, aimed to assess their perceived sleep quality. For the next night time, the sleep-promoting interventions randomly, either eye masks or earplugs or both from 11pm to 7am.The quality of sleep was assessed again in coming morning based on the e Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ). At the same time, ICU nurses were invited to complete the evaluation form for giving comments and opinion about the study.
Result & Outcome :
From March 2019 to April 2019, total 24 patients were recruited. There were 13 male and 11 female patients. The research study proved that the quality of sleep was significantly improved after application of eye masks among ICU patients. All nurses agreed that sleep quality was essential for patient recovery.
Conclusion:
Sleep improvement is definitely important and it becomes a goal of care in the ICU.
Recommendation:
The simple with low cost sleep-promoting intervention such as eye masks may be a valuable addition to patients attempting to sleep in ICU. Eye masks could be used as an acceptable sleep intervention and alternative to sleep medications for improving patient's sleep quality when it is appropriate.
