How often do we interrupt sleep in hospitalized patients?

The 2 minute update looks at a study evaluating sleep interruptions in hospitalized patients. How often do we interrupt sleep in older patients, and how much do we let them sleep?

This is a retrospective cohort study performed at 6 US hospitals in 2024. It included over 19,000 patients at least age 65 admitted from the ED to a medical-surgical unit. Mean age was 79. 

Researchers used EHR data to see how often patients were interrupted between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. for vital signs, medications, laboratory draws, room changes and imaging.

On the first night hospitalized, patients were interrupted 4.9 times, and about 3.6 times on subsequent nights. The longest average uninterrupted time block was about 3.8 hours on the first night, and about 4.3 hours after the first night. Patients boarding or waiting in the ED were interrupted slightly more often.

Sleep interruptions really did not decrease from nights 2 through 6. Slightly less than half of the interruptions were for vital signs, medications were about a third, followed by lab draws.

Multiple studies show that more sleep interruptions lead to lower patient satisfaction scores. It seems logical that if a hospital wanted to impact patient satisfaction scores, they would strive to allow patients to sleep, and let patients know that their sleep is a priority. And guidelines on elevated blood pressure in hospitalized patients even recommend evaluating sleep deprivation as a potential cause.

Reference: Haimovich et al. Sleep Interruptions Among Older Adults Admitted to the Hospital. JAMA Network Open. 2025;8:e251131