ICU Sleep Protocol Essay

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The understanding and utilization of outcome measures is a requisite skill for today’s healthcare leader. According to Dlugacz (2006), “The successful health care professional is committed to running an efficient organization, and that entails understanding data from quality indicators and measures and how these data can be used to link clinical results and policy information” (pg2).
Sleep in the modern day, technologically advanced Intensive Care unit (ICU) is fragmented and poor. ICUs are not designed to promote sleep, but rather to alert and engage staff in patient safety. Sleep deprivation and fragmentation impairs neurocognitive function and healing (Friese, 2008). This neurocognitive disruption is often referred to in the ICU environment as delirium. …show more content…

Imagine how outcomes might improve if we allowed patients to sleep.
My MindMap explores the processes and outcomes obtained through the implementation of an ICU sleep protocol. Instituting the sleep protocol in an ICU with various admitting physicians and patient diagnosis will allow the data to be analyzed objectively and in aggregate (Dlugacz, 2006). I believe that the implementation of a sleep protocol will enable patients to sleep in the ICU. The Inputs for this study will include the development of a sleep protocol, education to ICU staff regarding alarm management, the ability to measure sleep through the use of polysomnography and finally the use of a noise monitor to alert staff when the unit is becoming too noisy. The desired outputs from this intervention include a decrease in ICU delirium, Increased patient satisfaction, and decreased ICU length of stay which will lead to an increased financial strength. These are ambitious outcome objectives. The only way to truly know if the implementation of a sleep protocol makes a difference in patient outcomes is through data analysis and measurements. These measurements need to include both qualitative and

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