Using a Sleep Protocol to Limit Sleep Interruptions on a Medical-Surgical Unit

A quality improvement effort was designed to coordinate care in minimizing sleep interruptions to allow patients 6 or more hours of uninterrupted sleep. An interprofessional team developed a sleep protocol (HUSH) and coordinated care activities to reduce sleep interruptions on a 30-bed medical-surgical-telemetry unit. Changes in patient perceptions of noise and number of hours of restful sleep were compared before and after implementation. Results indicate a 9% improvement in quiet domain scores.