SueñOn Project, we care for sleep

The objective of the SueñOn project is to facilitate rest for people who are hospitalised, using small measures that are easy to implement. The project is driven by the nursing team and is aimed at society as a whole, both health professionals and managers, and patients.

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Description

Studies have confirmed that among the factors that disturb the sleep of patients who are admitted to hospital is the fact that they wake up and go to bed earlier than normal and experience interruptions during the night. Said interruptions tend to be due to excess light, nursing routines and care (for the patient themselves or the other patient sharing their room), noise in the hospitalisation unit, an uncomfortable bed or inadequate room temperature. Pain, fatigue, fear and worry also have an influence. Another factor to add to the list is daytime “naps”, brought about by the amount of time that they have to stay in bed or sit up with nothing to distract themselves.

To begin to improve this situation, we propose the adoption of a series of measures that are easily implemented and are supported by scientific evidence.

Our proposal is based on two lines of action:

To empower health professionals, led by the nursing staff, so that they can change their routines according to the recommendations put forward by evidence.
To establish a communication plan so that the message reaches the general public through health professionals, patient associations and social media.

Proposals of SueñOn:

-       LIGHT: To establish a hospital photoperiod that makes it possible to differentiate between daytime and night-time hours.
-       NOISE: To reduce noise made by professionals. To avoid talking in or in the vicinity of rooms. To avoid moving equipment during the night. To adopt infrastructure-related measures. To adopt measures that can be directly applied to the patient so that they can better coordinate their sleep, as well as environmental measures.
-       ORGANISATION OF CARE: To evaluate sleep characteristics. To control symptoms that may interfere with sleep.
-       OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS: To facilitate comfort in fixtures and to provide comfortable environments. To evaluate patients’ quality of sleep. To provide accurate information and treatment that is friendly and respectful. To use relaxation methods.

Source of information:
SueñOn: Cuidamos el sueño [Internet]. Spain [consulted on the 8th of September, 2018]. Available at http://suenon.recursosencuidados.es/index.html

Catalanurses.cat: SueñOn® Programme [Internet]. Catalonia [consulted on the 8th of September, 2018]. Available at: https://www.catalanurses.cat/en/projectes/programa-suenon/