Promoting a Sleep-friendly Environment by Minimizing Overnight Room Entries

Area of Science:

• Pediatric hospital medicine
• Quality improvement science
• Sleep science

Background:

• Hospitalized children frequently experience sleep interruptions, impacting recovery.
• Overnight room entries by staff are a primary cause of sleep disruption.
• Minimizing unnecessary interventions is key to improving pediatric sleep quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reduce overnight room entries in a pediatric hospital.
• To improve sleep quality for hospitalized children through a quality improvement intervention.
• To minimize unnecessary interventions during overnight hours.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement intervention was implemented on hospital medicine services.
• Intervention included order set changes and a rounding checklist.
• Overnight room entries were tracked using sensors; statistical process control charting was used for analysis.

Main Results:

• Average overnight room entries decreased by 16% (from 8.1 to 6.8).
• The reduction in room entries correlated with the implementation of a rounding checklist.
• Avoidance of overnight medications and IV fluids increased by 28% and 17% respectively.

Conclusions:

• Implementing a rounding checklist effectively reduced overnight room entries in a broad pediatric patient population.
• Sustaining improvements in overnight room entry reduction requires further investigation.
• Quality improvement initiatives can positively impact pediatric patient sleep and recovery.