Por: Cintia Escandell
Nurse
Nurse
I imagine some of you have been
hospitalized at some point in your life as
inpatient or some family member has being in these circumstances. We
feel so vulnerable that we prioritize other aspects or we are so focused on the
condition that brought us to the hospital that we do not consider that sleep is
a very important factor in our recovery. It is known that patients who sleep
less than 5 hours at night have associated an increased mortality much higher
compared to those who sleep more hours[i].
There are many factors for the
disruption of sleep in hospitalized persons, but perhaps in this blog we are
most interested on those on which nurses[ii] can act. The three most
important are: light, noise and the organization of care. It is also essential
to know how sleep works and its phases.
Nurses look after the care of
people, sometimes the sleep of inpatients is one of the aspects that is relegated
due to many other components of the care (no exaggeration) and because we do
not have time. It does not mean that everything that slip away from us can be attributed
to the wild-card "time", but it is true that it is also a key element
in care. In this sense, the organization of care plays a important role. If we
could group the distribution of medication (as far as possible) to ensure that people
hospitalized could rest between six and eight hours at night that would be a
breakthrough. But we know that sometimes there is no choice but to enter in the
room... Well, in these cases, we can consider entering with less light
(flashlights, for example) and respecting the silence (in the rooms and
hallways of the hospital) to try to encourage night rest.
We understand that simple acts
can facilitate promoting the respect for sleeping of hospitalized people and
make things easier. The key are these three factors (light, noise and
organization of care) which are closely interrelated. Therefore try to
encourage the sleep of hospitalized people in line with the circadian rhythm
(rest at night when there is dark, and activity during daylight hours).
Together we can achieve it.
[i] Kripke DF et
al. Mortality related to actigraphic long and short sleep. Sleep Med. 2011 Jan;
12(1):28-33. PMID: 20870457.
[ii] Venkateshiah S B, Collop N A. Sleep and Sleep
Disorders in the Hospital. CHEST; 2012; 141 (5). Disponible en: http://journal.publications.chestnet.org
el 02/03/2016
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