Testing alternatives for Psychiatric Nursing Observation at night v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Psychiatric Nursing Observation at night: a single case experimental design (SCED)
IRAS ID
235657
Contact name
David Veale
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 30 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. This study will evaluate an alternative to standard practice using amber torch to check on whether a patient is safe. It will be conducted by a single case experimental design in which a patient acts as their own control and will be randomly allocated to either standard nursing observations or for the nurse to use an amber torch.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1936
Date of REC Opinion
23 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion