Still too noisy – An audit of sleep quality in trauma and orthopaedic patients

TY - JOUR

T1 - Still too noisy – An audit of sleep quality in trauma and orthopaedic patients

AU - Gulam, Sumeya

AU - Xyrichis, Andreas

AU - Lee, Geraldine A.

PY - 2020/3

Y1 - 2020/3

N2 - Introduction: An adequate amount of sleep is fundamental to health and well-being, especially for individuals recovering from an illness or injury. Trauma patients sustain musculoskeletal and tissue injuries and require a sufficient amount of sleep to promote recovery. However, it is known that patients can face difficulties sleeping in hospitals which impacts on their recovery. Aim: To determine the quality of sleep, influence of sleep quality and the impact of sleep quality on recovery in trauma and orthopaedic patients. Methodology: An exploratory descriptive design was applied using a clinical audit. As no standardised sleep assessment tool was identified, a sleep audit tool was developed. Findings: A total of 40 patients were recruited from two trauma and orthopaedic wards from a London Hospital in the United Kingdom. Of these 17 patients (43%) rated the quality of sleep as ‘poor’ and nearly half (n = 19, 46%) reported that the quality of their night-time sleep had affected their recovery. Two-thirds of patients reported noise was the main factor that disrupted their sleep, making it the highest contributing sleep disruptor (n = 26, 65%). Conclusion: A significant association between poor quality of sleep and patient recovery was identified in this small sample of trauma and orthopaedic patients. The findings suggest that nurses should try to create a suitable sleeping environment to enhance patient recovery. There is a need for a standardised sleep assessment tool and sleep audit tool so that the quality of patients’ sleep can be accurately assessed and documented.

AB - Introduction: An adequate amount of sleep is fundamental to health and well-being, especially for individuals recovering from an illness or injury. Trauma patients sustain musculoskeletal and tissue injuries and require a sufficient amount of sleep to promote recovery. However, it is known that patients can face difficulties sleeping in hospitals which impacts on their recovery. Aim: To determine the quality of sleep, influence of sleep quality and the impact of sleep quality on recovery in trauma and orthopaedic patients. Methodology: An exploratory descriptive design was applied using a clinical audit. As no standardised sleep assessment tool was identified, a sleep audit tool was developed. Findings: A total of 40 patients were recruited from two trauma and orthopaedic wards from a London Hospital in the United Kingdom. Of these 17 patients (43%) rated the quality of sleep as ‘poor’ and nearly half (n = 19, 46%) reported that the quality of their night-time sleep had affected their recovery. Two-thirds of patients reported noise was the main factor that disrupted their sleep, making it the highest contributing sleep disruptor (n = 26, 65%). Conclusion: A significant association between poor quality of sleep and patient recovery was identified in this small sample of trauma and orthopaedic patients. The findings suggest that nurses should try to create a suitable sleeping environment to enhance patient recovery. There is a need for a standardised sleep assessment tool and sleep audit tool so that the quality of patients’ sleep can be accurately assessed and documented.

KW - Audit

KW - Hospital

KW - Noise

KW - Recovery

KW - Sleep quality

KW - Trauma & orthopaedic patients

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078760930&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ienj.2019.100812

DO - 10.1016/j.ienj.2019.100812

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85078760930

SN - 1755-599X

VL - 49

JO - International emergency nursing

JF - International emergency nursing

M1 - 100812

ER -