Sleep Quality of Hospitalized Patients in Surgical Units

Abstract

AIM. The aim of this study was to determine the sleep quality of the patients hospitalized in surgical units and the factors that influence it. METHOD. The research was a randomized descriptive study. It was conducted in the surgical clinics of Sivas Cumhuriyet University Health Services Research Hospital. A total of 411 patients participated in the study. The research data were gathered by means of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Questionnaire aimed at capturing personal information about the participant patients and the factors influencing their sleep. RESULTS. The sleep quality score of the patients "during the last week" (8.090 ± 3.504) was higher than their score in the "preadmission" period (4.229 ± 2.726) (p= .000). The sleep quality scores of "the patients with previous hospitalization and operation experience" (p= .000), "those who had undergone a major surgical procedure" (p= .000), "those who had been hospitalized for a week" (p= .022), and "those undergoing medical intervention during sleeping hours" (p= .000) "during the last week" were high. Patients who had a chronic illness history and whose operations were postponed had poor quality of sleep in both the hospitalization and preadmission period (p= .000). CONCLUSIONS. It could be suggested that the patients in preoperative and postoperative periods cannot get adequate rest due to low sleep-quality levels. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE. Nurses can prepare an environment aiding sleep as a way to increase surgical patients' sleep quality in hospital. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.