Date of Award

Summer 2022

Project Type

Thesis

College or School

CHHS

Department

Nursing

Program or Major

Nursing

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Pamela Kallmerten

Abstract

Background: Hospitals are expected to provide a quiet and calm environment for the promotion of rest, healing, and well-being for their patients. Excess hospital noise levels and disturbances severely interfere with patient sleep and overall patient satisfaction.

Local Problem: Patients have discussed inability to sleep, need for sleeping medications, and lack of appetite due to hindered sleep following admission. An increase in patient withdrawal and decrease in level of participation in the plan of care has recently been observed.

Method: This project followed the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework to facilitate a rapid intervention implementation and change cycle. In addition, the Richards Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) was used to assess perceived sleep depth, sleep latency, awakenings, return to sleep, and sleep quality pre- and post-intervention. The mean score of the five items was calculated to represent the total score, the measure for patient reported sleep quality. A sixth item regarding perceived nighttime noise was utilized as a reference to identify noise disturbances but was not included in the final sleep scores.

Intervention: The intervention includes the pre- and post-intervention questionnaire, a sleep-kit containing a sleep mask, ear plugs, and earbuds, as well as education provided to participating patients and an educational poster designed for nursing staff to promote sleep-kit awareness.

Result: The distribution of a sleep-kit upon patient admission improved patient reported sleep quality by 35.94% from baseline by the end of the implementation period. Additionally, the difference between pre-intervention and post-intervention RCSQ responses regarding the noise item revealed a 41.4% improvement from baseline.

Conclusion: The improvement in patient reported sleep quality may be attributed to the project intervention. Recommendations for future intervention include analysis of individual sleep-kit contents use and measure of patient satisfaction related to the intervention.

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