Managing insomnia in older adults.

Nurses frequently care for patients with complaints of insomnia in the hospital and community settings. Because older adults with insomnia present unique challenges for successful patient management, nurses should understand the latest assessment and treatment options.

Maximizing the Benefit of Quality Improvement Activities: A Spread of Innovations Model.

Background: Many organizations struggle to efficiently and effectively spread improvement activities. This article presents findings from a model developed to standardize the sharing of innovative ideas within nursing at an academic medical center.

Problem: Quality improvement activities were occurring in many nursing units but often did not spread beyond the originating unit.

Managing insomnia in older adults.

NPs frequently care for patients with complaints of insomnia in the hospital and community settings. Because older adults with insomnia present unique challenges for successful management, NPs should understand the latest assessment and treatment options.

Quiet Time Improves the Patient Experience.

Background: A quiet environment promotes rest and healing but is often challenging to provide in a busy acute care setting. Improving quiet in the hospital for designated hours improves patient satisfaction. Such efforts have typically been the primary responsibility of the nursing staff.

Effects of nursing unit spatial layout on nursing team communication patterns, quality of care, and patient safety.

Studies investigating factors contributing to improved quality of care have found that effective team member communication is among the most critical and influential aspects in the delivery of quality care. Relatively little research has examined the role of the physical design of nursing units on communication patterns among care providers. Although the concept of decentralized unit design is intended to increase patient safety, reduce nurse fatigue, and control the noisy, chaotic, and crowded space associated with centralized nursing stations, until recently little attention has been paid to how such nursing unit designs affected communication patterns or other medical and organizational outcomes.

Treatment options for insomnia.

Complaints of insomnia, including reports of difficulty initiating and remaining asleep, are often reported to primary healthcare providers. Nurse practitioners must be prepared to screen patients for this common sleep disorder as well as understand the latest treatment options for optimal patient outcomes.

Comparison of sleep and mood in patients after on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery.

Background: Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgical procedures have been advocated to reduce the adverse effects of cardiopulmonary bypass on the brain.

Objective: To examine differences in objective and subjective characteristics of sleep and mood disturbance between patients after on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery.

Methods: In a secondary analysis of pooled data from 2 previous studies, sleep characteristics and mood disturbance on postoperative night 2 after transfer to the cardiac surgery step-down unit were compared in patients who had on-pump and off-pump cardiac surgery.

Sleep, memory, and learning in off-pump coronary artery bypass patients.

In this study, I examined sleep, memory, and learning in off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) patients. Sixty-six men and women aged >or=60 years wore actigraphs to record sleep and completed sleep diaries for two 24-hour periods following OPCAB surgery. Prior to discharge from the hospital, participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test.

Patterns and predictors of sleep pattern disturbance after cardiac surgery.

The purposes of this study were to examine changes in sleep patterns after cardiac surgery and the contributions of preoperative sleep to postoperative sleep. Seventy-two cardiac surgery patients wore wrist actigraphs for 3 days during the preoperative period (T1) and the 1st (T2), 4th (T3), and 8th (T4) postoperative weeks. They completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at T1, T3, and T4.

Sleep is related to physical function and emotional well-being after cardiac surgery.

Background: Emotional well-being and physical function are important quality-of-life outcomes after cardiac surgery. Alterations in sleep patterns, including sleep deprivation and altered circadian patterning, also are common. The relations among sleep pattern alterations, physical function, and emotional well-being are not well understood.

Sleep during hospitalization and recovery after cardiac surgery.

Sleep disturbance is common in patients undergoing cardiac surgery and has been recognized for more than 30 years. Research findings suggest that sleep disturbance is a multifactorial process that has many correlates in these patients and persists from the presurgical period throughout recovery. A growing body of literature suggests the importance of sleep for function and well-being of these patients.