The effect of supportive educational intervention on sleep before coronary artery bypass graft surgery

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of supportive educational intervention on quality of sleep before coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. Patients who are waiting for surgery, experience high levels of stress and anxiety due to invasive nature of the procedure. This experience may influence their sleep quality. Disturbed sleep could lead to worsening the disease condition and reduces the process of recovery. Using non-pharmacological methods such as Benson muscle relaxation, deep breathing and guided imagery could be safe and useful for solving patients’ sleep problems before surgery. The present study was a quasi-experimental clinical trial in which 160 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery who hospitalized in cardiac surgery wards and cardiac intensive care units of selected hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Science were recruited and divided into two experimental (n=80) and control (n=80) group. Demographic data questionnaire was given to the patients at the first day of hospital admission. The control group received routine care. The intervention group received routine care and supportive educational intervention for at least two days between 4 and 6 p.m. All of the patients filled Groningen sleep quality scale in the day of surgery. Data analyzed by SPSS version 16. Before surgery, the mean score of sleep quality was 4.6±5.50 in intervention group and 10.76±1.27 in control group. There was a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control group in terms of sleep quality as the experimental group reported higher quality sleep than control group (P<0.0001). Implementation of non-pharmacological methods such as relaxation, deep breathing, and guided imagery could be a good alternative method for hypnotic and sedative drugs. This could be one of the nursing interventions before coronary artery bypass grafting surgery as a safe, available and useful method.