The effect of open visiting policy on sleep quality, anxiety, and patient satisfaction after coronary arteries bypass graft surgery

 This study aimed to examine the effect of open visiting hours on sleep quality, anxiety, and satisfaction of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG).

The importance of visiting patients after CABG has been emphasized in various studies, but there is insufficient evidence to confirm whether restricted /open visits may have more positive or negative effects than each other.

 In this clinical trial study, 60 post-CABG patients, admitted to Shahid Rajaei Cardiovascular, Medical and Research center, were randomly selected and divided into experimental (n=30) and control group (n=30). Patients in experimental group received an open visiting schedule (free visiting) and those in control group experienced a regular visiting schedule (restricted visiting). Anxiety was measured on the second and fourth days of hospitalization by the Spielberger Anxiety Inventory (STAI), sleep quality was measured by Richard Campbell and satisfaction was assessed through researcher-made questionnaire on the fourth day of hospitalization. Data were analyzed using independent t-test in SPSS-20 software.

There was a statistically significant difference between control and experimental groups in terms of anxiety mean score (43.97±6.76 against 35.90±4.31, respectively) (p≤0.0001). There was also a statistically significant difference between control and experimental groups in terms of mean score of patient satisfaction (46.13±7.15 vs 32.23±4.67, respectively) (p≤0.0001). A statistically significant difference was found between control and experimental groups in terms of sleep quality mean score (2.33±0.8 vs 3.33±0.75, respectively) (p≤0.0001).
Conclusion. Open visiting can reduces anxiety, and improves sleep quality and patients' satisfaction after CABG.