Operating Room Nurses Sleep Health: an Evidence-Based Practice Sleep Health Education Project

Authors

Gabriella M. Castignoli, Sacred Heart UniversityFollow

Document Type

DNP Project

Publication Date

5-2022

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Faculty Advisor

Anna Goddard, Ph.D.

Practice Mentor

Sindy Kim Mulcahey MS, RN

Abstract

Background: "Sleep Health" is a new Healthy People 2023 priority due to notable poor sleep health across the nation, with more than 25% of U.S. adults reporting insufficient sleep. Adequate sleep is necessary to work effectively and safely, with operating room (OR) nurses at high risk for inadequate sleep due to atypical work schedules.

Purpose: This project aims to establish the importance of sleep health for OR nurses at a community-based hospital and improve sleep health perception and sleep health through sleep health education with staff.

Methods: The IOWA model for evidence-based practice and quality improvement tools, Plan-Do-Study-Act, and the “5-Whys,” were utilized. A pre-and-post evaluation was conducted using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and a self-administered sleep health perception survey after implementing a sleep health educational module, based on materials from the Harvard Medical School, Division of Sleep Medicine.

Results: Global PSQI scores increased (7 to 8) one month after sleep health education, suggesting a decline in sleep health quality. However, sleep health perception increased (78.9% to 83.33%) one month after sleep health education, fewer callouts related to sleep deprivation (12.5% to 0%), an increase in self-scheduling sufficient time for rest (57.4% to 66.67%), and an increase in sleep duration (6.3 to 6.8 hours or 30 minutes).

Discussion: Targeted sleep education can change perception and sleep quality, as shown with operating room nurses at a community hospital. While this project was conducted during a global pandemic, leading to small sample size and notable attrition, a change in sleep health perception, next-day callouts, and anecdotal feedback of behavioral changes were found. Despite limitations from COVID-19 during implementation, this project piloted a process for the nurse educators to incorporate sleep health education into ongoing professional education for the OR. The results from this project provide baseline data for future work with prioritizing sleep health with nurses and shows how the benefits of adequate sleep health can potentially serve the nursing community.

Comments

Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Castignoli, G. M. (2022). Operating room nurses sleep health: An evidence-based practice sleep health education project. [Unpublished DNP project]. Sacred Heart University.