Abstract
Utilizing time-based color-coded indicators in the system, clinicians in our inpatient psychiatric areas consistently monitor the sleep hygiene of each of their patients on the unit as part of their 15-minute check-ins throughout a 24-hour period.
Prior to this project, inpatient psychiatric technicians would, at the end of the night shift, review each individual patient’s chart to tally up the total amounts the patients slept overnight and calculate a 24-hour total as well. This was all done through a manual process, and as with any manual process, miscalculations and errors could easily occur and affect any treatment the patient had relating to their sleep habits.
We leveraged the existing q15 documentation to drive new documentation to custom formula flowsheet rows which automate the sleep count for both a 24-hour period and a defined nighttime period, which each unit defines. These custom formula flowsheet rows activate automatically when the end user files the q15 assessment, and in real time evaluates both the current and the previous documentation to determine if that patient has woken up or fallen asleep. If the patient has woken up, the rows automatically calculate how long the patient had been asleep and at the end of the night shift, the system calculates the nighttime and 24-hour totals.
This has, between the two units, saved on average anywhere from 5–15 hours of manual work per week, increased visibility of the data for all psychiatric team members, and reduced the risk of calculation errors.