Study: ICU patients sleep better using soft earplugs
Cheap devices address sleep deprivation issues
A new study suggests that ICU patients who wear soft foam earplugs during sleep periods achieve deeper, more restful sleep than those who fall asleep without them. Therefore, nurses should consider the practice of issuing earplugs to patients in the ICU who show patterns of sleep disturbance and can wear the earplugs safely, a research team member advised.
However, the study stopped short of implying that deep, restful sleep in critically ill patients will lead to better clinical outcomes or earlier transfers and discharges.
"We found evidence that the devices can indeed positively affect normal sleep. But the research did not study the connection between restful sleep and clinical outcomes," says C. Jane Wallace, RN, PhD, senior outcomes research manager at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City.
However, conventional wisdom says that sleep deprivation in critically ill patients contributes greatly to impaired immune function, delayed ventilator weaning, changing body temperatures, and delirium, Wallace says. The benefit weighed against the cost of the using the handy, inexpensive devices argues in favor of using earplugs.
The study simulated typical ICU noises using audio tape recordings. Participants were exposed to seven eight-hour sessions and one five-hour session of the tapes, which were designed to simulate typical morning, evening, and nighttime sound levels. Participants in the study were six healthy volunteers.
Those who did not wear the earplugs showed significantly higher levels of shallow REM (rapid eye movement) sleep than those who slept with the earplugs based on recorded brain wave activities. The duration of sleep period, time spent in Stage 4 (deep sleep), and other sleep-quality indicators were higher for participants with the earplugs.
The results, researchers wrote, provide a reasonable basis for further study of noise reduction interventions in the ICU but may not be statistically significant in simulating actual ICU conditions.1
Reference
1. Wallace CJ, Robins J, Alvord LS, et al. The effect of earplugs on sleep measures during exposure to simulated intensive care unit noise. Am J Crit Care 1999; 8:210-218. n
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