Sleep disruption experienced by surgicai patients in an acute iiospitai

Background: Sleep has a common structure and pattern and is thoughtto be a restorative process. Sleep deprivation and disruption cancause a myriad of physical and psychological changes, which can allhave an impact on health care. As such, sleep is recognized as beingbeneficial to health and an important aspect of nursing care. Method:This study used an expansion component mixed-method designto describe the sleep experience of patients on surgical wards. Thisinvolved establishing the factors which disturb sleep and describingpatients* experiences of sleep disruption. Results: 17 ofthe 24 patientsapproached participated in the study, providing a 71% response rate.Environmental factors were found to be strongly correlated with sleepdisruption with a Pearson's coefficient of +0.795. Personal factorswere also found to be correlated with sleep disruption although, witha Pearson's coefficient of +0.590, not as strongly as environmentalfactors. Discussion: This study found that environmental noise, painand tension were most likely to disrupt the sleep of surgical patients.It has also established four recommendations to improve the sleepof hospital patients. Limitations:This study has some limitations thatneed to be considered: limited database access, a small sample sizeand a data collection tool which had not previously been tested forvalidity or reliability. Conclusion:This study produced some compellingfindings. It is recommended, however, that these findings be tested bylarger studies using simple random sampling and in-depth interviews.Key words: Noise • Pain • Sleep disruption • Surgical patients