Impact of a Sleep-Promoting Schedule on Sleep Quality in the Intensive Care Unit

Hospitalized patients often experience sleep disruption that fragments their sleep and disturbs their circadian rhythms, putting them at risk for sleep deprivation. The risk increases with greater severity of illness and is especially high in intensive care unit patients. Sleep deprivation can prolong the intensive care unit stay, contribute to emotional and physiological distress, and even increase the patient's risk of death.

Critical care nurses in a 28-bed medical intensive care unit reported that patients often complained of sleep disruption or exhibited emotional and physical distress resulting from sleep deprivation. An analysis of the gap between recommended evidence-based best practice and current practices in the unit revealed numerous opportunities to improve patients' sleep. The aim of this evidence-based quality improvement project was to increase interprofessional adherence to an existing sleep-promoting schedule to reduce avoidable interruptions and improve patient sleep quality.

To promote sleep, staff member interactions with patients between midnight and 4 am were minimized, if appropriate. Documented patient encounters and call bell initiation were evaluated as process measures. Patients' self-perceived sleep quality, an outcome measure, was evaluated using the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire.

Adherence to a sleep-promoting schedule reduced patient sleep interruptions between midnight and 4 am by as much as two-thirds while increasing patients' overall self-perceived sleep quality by 6.7 percentage points.

An interprofessional effort to minimize patient interruptions at night in an intensive care unit setting led to improved patient sleep quality and sustainable practice changes.