Improving sleep quality in maternity patients in a Singapore academic hospital: a best practice implementation project

ABSTRACT Introduction: Prolonged sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality are common complaints among pregnant and postpartum women, and they have adverse effects on the physiological and psychological well-being of mothers antenatally and postnatally. Objectives: The aim of this project was to improve antenatal and postnatal mothers’ night-time sleep quality during hospitalization in an obstetric ward through multi-faceted interventions. Methods: This project followed the JBI Model of Evidence-based Healthcare and applied the seven phases of the JBI Evidence Implementation Framework to conduct context analysis, strategy implementation, and review of practice using evidence-based audit criteria. JBI's Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and the Getting Research into Practice situational analysis tool were used to support data collection and identify barriers and strategies. Mothers’ sleep quality was measured using an adapted St. Mary's Hospital Sleep Questionnaire. Results: Baseline audit results (0%) revealed that midwives and nurses were not implementing the multi-faceted interventions to promote sleep in mothers. The results in follow-up audit 1 and follow-up audit 2 achieved compliance of 63.3% ( p < 0.000), respectively. Overall, the mothers were fairly satisfied with their sleep quality, were able to sleep longer, and felt more alert when waking up in the morning. Conclusions: There was an increase in compliance with best practices to improve mothers’ sleep quality in the obstetric wards, although these results could be further improved. Mothers’ perspectives of sleep promotion strategies should be explored in future projects to tailor the strategies to their needs. Sustainability plans include conducting follow-up audits and engaging ward nurses to continue implementing the multi-faceted interventions. Spanish abstract: http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A307