Effectiveness of Ear Plugs in Enhancing Comfort and Sleep among Critically Ill Patients

Noise can be defined as any unwanted or undesirable sound which is subjectively annoying or disrupts performance and is physiologically and psychologically stressful. Sleep deprivation due to nursing interventions and ambient noise can be more disturbing for patients in intensive care units (ICUs), which can exacerbate confusion and ICU-related delirium. The study adopted quantitative research approach to assess the effectiveness of ear plugs in enhancing comfort and sleep among the critically ill patients. A Pretest and Post test Experimental design was adopted for the study. The population chosen was critically ill patients admitted in Medical Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital. A total of 80 samples (40 experimental, 40 control) were selected using simple random sampling technique. The data was collected using a questionnaire to assess the sources of noise and Likert scale to assess the level of comfort and sleep using interview technique. Effectiveness of the ear plugs was assessed using paired t- test, and was found to be statistically significant at (pless than0.001). Study findings support the use of ear plugs as a non- pharmacological measure that significantly enhances comfort and sleep among patients in the Intensive care units.