The relationship between critical care nurses' knowledge about sleep, and the initiation of sleep promoting nursing interventions

Abstract

This descriptive correlation study examined the relationship between critical care nurses' sleep-promoting nursing interventions and their knowledge about sleep; the priority they gave to sleep; their perceptions about the ICU environment; the quantity and quality of sleep they perceived the patients to have obtained; and their sleep promoting nursing interventions. The data were described and then analysed using multiple regression/correlational analysis. Critical care nurses were not very knowledgeable about sleep. They perceived the ICU environment to be moderately conducive to sleep and perceived that they had only some ability to change the ICU environment in order to promote sleep. There was no statistically significant relationship between critical care nurses', sleep promoting nursing interventions and their knowledge about sleep. Several explanations for this are given. There was a statistically significant relationship between sleep promoting nursing interventions and the priority critical care nurses gave to sleep. Several implications for nursing research were drawn from the data and presented.