Sleep Assessment in Critically Ill Patients

Abstract

Sleep disruption in the intensive care unit (ICU) is a well-recognised phenomenon that may have detrimental effects on critically ill patients. There are relatively few studies in the literature on this topic, with conflicting findings. Investigators differ in their conclusions as to whether patients in ICU are sleep-deprived. This difference in findings between studies may be due to different types of patient populations, different unit designs and work load, different practices of daily nursing activities, and/or different practices in patients' management and use of sedative medications.