Improving Sleep for Patients on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    To evaluate a parent-led, individualised sleep promotion package in children and young people having medium or long stay on the cardiac Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

  • IRAS ID

    278200

  • Contact name

    Emma Simpson

  • Contact email

    emma.simpson29@nhs.net

  • Sponsor organisation

    Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    NUTH812, Project Initiation Form (PIF)

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 8 months, 31 days

  • Research summary

    For this research project we will invite parents and children <18 years who have been patients in the cardiac Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for 3 days or more and for whom discharge is not planned for at least 3 days. Following provision of study information and consenting, parents will fill in a sleep diary (see document number 9 and 10)with input from the child if possible and the bedside nurse (who observes the child when parents aren't there). In the diary, the parents give background information about their child’s usual sleep routine (document 9), pre-existing sleep problems and current difficulties. Parents fill in the diary every 24 hours with information about the child’s current sleep- number of hours, interruptions and difficulties, suggestions and reflections on what might help. The physio and occupational therapist then meet with the parents, child and nurse and together they identify up to 5 improvements which could be made to their child’s care which would make sleep easier. A plan is made comprising changes to the environment, bedtime routine and simple equipment, choosing from the list provided, (see A19 for the list) which they would like to try. At weekly meetings with the physio, OT and researcher the interventions are reviewed and changed according to need. The physio team keep records of the child’s participation in exercise and functional progress. If the child moves to the main ward, the study continues. At discharge, a final evaluation takes place in the form of a semi-structured interview (document 19). The research team analyses the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the sleep diary. A minimum of 8 interviews will be conducted, to be analysed using qualitative methods. We aim to understand the nature of sleep problems in this group and to find out what could be done to help.

  • REC name

    London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    21/LO/0765

  • Date of REC Opinion

    11 Jan 2022

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion