Abstract
Introduction
A fundamental component of nursing care is observations at night to ensure the wellbeing of patients. However, there is no literature on the lived experience by in‐patients of such observations or of the general environment of a psychiatric ward at night.
Aim/Question
This study aims (1) to understand the lived experience of being an in‐patient on a psychiatric ward at night with a focus on intermittent observations, (2) contribute to developing a tool to monitor the psychiatric ward environment for use in quality improvement projects.
Method
Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with twelve in‐patients from 5 psychiatric wards who had experienced intermittent observations at night. These interviews were subsequently transcribed and analysed using content analysis.
Results
Environmental disturbances including light and noise, invasion of privacy and safety considerations on the ward all contributed to sleep disturbance. The unintended consequences of disturbances caused by intermittent night observations, and by staff in general and other patients formed the core of the inpatients’ experience. We developed a clinical tool that could be used to identify the factors that are relevant on an individual ward.
Discussion
Participants interviewed unanimously agreed that poor sleep quality had a significant negative impact on their psychological and social wellbeing. These were discussed in relation to the environment and the experience of observations at night.
Implications for Nursing Practice.
Deprivation of inpatients’ sleep is currently under‐reported, and the usefulness of intermittent observations at night in psychiatric wards is questioned. Much could be done to adjust the environment at night to support quality sleep and improve psychiatric symptoms. This paper aims to highlight the lived experience of patients to help bring improvements.