Sleep quality in patients admitted to an intermediate care unit

Patients admitted to critical care units (ICU) are subject to develop sleep disturbances, caused by multiple factors that are present in this type of units.

Describe patients' perceptions of night rest, to relate them to sociodemographic variables, and determine factors that interfere with their sleep quality.

Descriptive, prospective, observational study in an ICU of a tertiary level university hospital. Sleep perception was assessed with the five-item Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ). Sociodemographic and clinical variables were collected. A self-developed questionnaire with 9 questions addressing the main factors mentioned in the literature that influence sleep was utilized. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed, being considered statistically significant p < ,05.

The sleep of 75 patients was studied, for 146 nights. The sleep perception was rated as fair, with moderate ease in falling asleep, average awakenings, and moderate ease in returning to sleep. The mean RCSQ score was 60.22 (SD: 24.81). It was observed that concern (p < .001), noise (p = .016), pain (p = .008), discomfort (p = .001), ambient light (p = .026), and the presence of nearby patients (p = .027) significantly influenced in the sleep.

Patients' perception of night sleep was fair. Keeping patients informed, minimizing ambient light and noise, optimizing analgesic guidelines, and promoting a comfortable position could facilitate night rest.