ICU psychosis!

[labman]

hey all i work in a neuro-surgical ICU. Unfortuantely we wake up all of these people every hour for neuro checks and in result have many cases of ICU psychosis. I am on nights so I try to keep visits on nights short and sweet, turn off the lights, close curtains except blinds so I can get a view at the monitor and the patient. Is there anymore things I can do to aid in sleeping (bath before bed, a shoot of warm milk in feeding tube-totally far fetched). What do all of you guys do to prevent ICU psychosis

kent:yawn:

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

I think all the things you have described will go a long way, it is difficult in a busy unit to keep the lights down and noise to a minimum especially when you have a sick patient going off.

For our patients who were getting better and more aware of the surroundings were give them eye shields and headphones with some gentle music to try to facilitate a good sleep.

[Miss Poppy]

I worked in Neuro ICU for years before moving to MSICU and it's hard when you have to wake people up Q1H, sometimes for days at a time. The main things that you can do os to try and group your nursing activities so that you're not always in and out of the room. It's nice to make neuro checks short and sweet as long as small signs of change aren't overlooked. Make sure that families are aware of how important it is is for people to be allowed adequate rest, even in the day time to help make up for the inadequate sleep at night. In the 8 years I was in neuro ICU, I never seen anyone suffer fron psychosis from sleep deprivation. Miserable yes, psychotic, no. It usually has more to do with the pathos, age, steriods or other meds there on.