The effect of instrumental music on sleep in patients admitted to Coronary Care Unit

This study was conducted to determine the effect of instrumental music on sleep in patients admitted to the coronary care unit (CCU). Poor quality sleep, as a distressing situation, can aggravate myocardial ischemia and infarction. The music as a cheap, and noninvasive approach with a slow rhythm, monotonous and repetitive, may have inducing-sleep or relaxation effect. The present study was a clinical trial conducted in 2014. The samples consisted of 72 patients with acute coronary syndrome admitted to coronary care unit of hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences. They were selected using the simple random sampling method and divided into experimental (n=36) and control (n=36) group. The quality of sleep was measured in the beginning of hospitalization and three days after admision, and the quantity of sleep was measured all the three days using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index and the sleep log quantity indices in experimental and control group. The intervention was implemented in the form of playing instrumental music in headphones since the first night of hospitalization for a three-night time span (45 minutes a night) in the beginning of the patients’ sleep. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 16, using descriptive and inferential statistics (chi-square, fisher's exact test, independent samples T test). According to the findings, the mean change in the sleep quality score, before and after intervention, and sleep quantity at the three nights of hospitalization were significantly different between experimental and control group (p<0.0001). The instrumental music can be effective in improving patients’ sleep quality and quantity. Therefore, nurses can benefit from this non-pharmacological method in their daily care to improve their patients’ sleep.