Barriers and Enablers to Nurses’ Sleep Promotion Practices in the Cardiac Post-Surgery Population: A Theoretical Domains Framework Based Survey

Abstract

Cardiac post-surgery inpatients lack the amount and quality of sleep needed for optimal recovery. I aimed to investigate the non-pharmacological sleep promotion practices used by nurses and the factors that influence their use. Guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework, I developed and administered a survey to registered nurses working in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and the cardiac surgery ward in one cardiac centre. Findings revealed that common sleep promotion practices included orientating inpatients to the room (n=88, 96.7%), and providing additional bedding (n=86, 96.6%). The most common enablers were knowledge regarding its benefits (n=72, 100%) and an understanding of its importance (n=77, 98.7%); the most common barriers were an absence of recognition from important healthcare professionals (n=61, 85.9%) and having competing priorities (n=60, 83.3%). These findings can be used in the development of interventions to promote nurses’ use of sleep promotion practices and to improve inpatients’ sleep quality.