Quiet time for mechanically ventilated patients in the medical intensive care unit.

Objective: Sleep disruption occurs frequently in critically ill patients. The primary aim of this study was to examine the effect of quiet time (QT) on patient sedation frequency, sedation and delirium scores; and to determine if consecutive QTs influenced physiologic measures (heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure and respiratory rate).

Method: A prospective study of a quiet time protocol was conducted with 72 adult patients on mechanical ventilation.