The Effect of Eyemasks and Earplugs Use on Sleep Quality of Patients Suffering from Myocardial Infarction in CCU

Sleep is regarded as one of the basic needs of human. Several factors can cause sleep disturbances in hospitalized inpatients, among which noise and light can be taken into account in Coronary Care Unit(CCU). Therefore, this study intended to investigate the effect of eyemasks and earplugs use on sleep quality of patients suffering from Myocardial Infarction in CCU. In this randomized clinical trial, a sample size of 90 patients admitted in CCU was selected. The samples were randomly divided into three groups on the first night of stay: patients with an eye mask and ear plug, patients with only an eye mask and patients in the control group. The intervention was performed from the first night of admission until discharge and sleep quality was assessed by Visual Analog Scale. Moreover, the study data were analyzed via SPSS software (ver,18) using ANOVA, paired t-test, independent t-test and post hoc Don. The mean score of sleep quality showed a significant difference after the intervention between the two experimental groups with the control group (p<0/05), whereas no significant difference was observed between the two experimental groups after the intervention (p>0/05). The study findings revealed that using eyemasks and earplugs as low-cost and uncomplicated devices can improve sleep quality in patients in CCU.