Aiding Sleep, Non-Pharmacologic Interventions in the Adult Oncology Population

My Experience:

Using this knowledge during My Chemo therapy that lasted 9 months of which 6 months was spent in the Critical Care unit, I instituted Calming music, Lavender oil diffuser and an addition of a Laser Star Projector in my room that filled my room and ceiling with a moving calming set of hazed and rippled blue and green clouds and stars. This truly set the tone for a soothing calming environment that not only was comforting to me but also the care team that came into my room. It was blissful and hypnotic and aided in distracting my waves of pain and emotions and set the mood for relaxation and rest.

The Items I used:

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Star Projector, TRAALL 4 in 1 Galaxy Projector with Bluetooth Speaker & Timer, Remote
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Handcraft Blends Lavender Essential Oil - Huge 4 Fl Oz - 100% Pure and Natural
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ASAKUKI 500ml Premium, Essential Oil Diffuser with Remote Control, 5 in 1 Ultrasonic Aromatherapy
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Background: Quality sleep is an important aspect of patient recovery, known to promote healing and positively impact patient outcomes.- In a 28 bed inpatient oncology unit- Mean length of stay is 5 days, but may be several months- these units Specialize in solid tumor and hematologic cancer care- Group of staff nurses initiated an EBP Evidence Based Practice project to examine potential non-pharmacologic sleep interventions that could be administered independently by staff for patient comfort.

Method: The Johns Hopkins Evidence Based Practice project model was used to conduct a literature review of evidence-based sleep assessment tools and non-pharmacologic sleep promoting interventions.
The search engines used were CINAHL and Pub Med. The most reliable and valid tool to assess sleep in the hospitalized patient was determined to be the Richard-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire(RCSQ). Three non-pharmacologic sleep promoting interventions were identified: earplugs lavender aromatherapy and music therapy.
Results: In 13 studies Earplugs and Music Therapy was self rated by patients as and A rating in helping them relax and then fall sleep.
While addition of Lavender essential oil diffuser in 9 studies was rated by patients to have given them higher quality of sleep.
Conclusion: The Sleep Questionnaire results affirmed that as many as 50% of patients may have difficulty sleeping during hospitalization, supporting the need to implement non-pharmacologic interventions.