Psychiatric Nursing Observations at night: a qualitative study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Psychiatric Nursing Observation at night: a qualitative study
IRAS ID
234551
Contact name
David Veale
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Psychiatric in-patients who are assessed as having a significant risk of self-harm or suicide are usually placed on regular nursing observation. This includes at night. The staff then document that the patient was noted to be asleep at a certain time. One practice is for the staff to use a torch with a bright white light to check that their patient is breathing. Another practise is for the bedside light to be left on for the staff to observe the patient. Alternatively, lighting is left on outside the bedroom door so that staff either stand outside the door, look through the window or turn the light on in the patient’s bedroom until a patient moves when they would turn them off again. Not surprisingly a patient’s sleep is disturbed, leading to complaints and ultimately the mental state is made worse because of poor sleep. A research student will conduct a qualitative study interviewing patients about their past experience of nursing observations at night. Their experience will be audio-recorded and extracted in a thematic analysis.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/WM/0395
Date of REC Opinion
14 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion