Sleep disruption experienced by surgical patients in an acute hospital

Sleep has a common structure and pattern and is thought to be a restorative process. Sleep deprivation and disruption can cause a myriad of physical and psychological changes, which can all have an impact on health care. As such, sleep is recognized as being beneficial to health and an important aspect of nursing care.

This study used an expansion component mixed-method design to describe the sleep experience of patients on surgical wards. This involved establishing the factors which disturb sleep and describing patients' experiences of sleep disruption.

17 of the 24 patients approached participated in the study, providing a 71% response rate. Environmental factors were found to be strongly correlated with sleep disruption with a Pearson's coefficient of +0.795. Personal factors were also found to be correlated with sleep disruption although, with a Pearson's coefficient of +0.590, not as strongly as environmental factors.

This study found that environmental noise, pain and tension were most likely to disrupt the sleep of surgical patients. It has also established four recommendations to improve the sleep of hospital patients.

This study has some limitations that need to be considered: limited database access, a small sample size and a data collection tool which had not previously been tested for validity or reliability.

This study produced some compelling findings. It is recommended, however, that these findings be tested by larger studies using simple random sampling and in-depth interviews.