Program empowers nurses to roll out evidence-based practices, starting with an innovative sleep protocol.
MADISON, WI – To enhance specialized care for older adults in the Dane County community, UnityPoint Health – Meriter has implemented the Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) program on a pilot unit within the hospital. Supported by a grant, five dedicated interdisciplinary team leaders completed an intensive 8-week course to ensure successful launch of the program, which included training RN team members to be Geriatric Resource Nurses (GRN) and rolling out an evidence-based initiative.
With support from the interdisciplinary team leaders, the pilot unit trained a total of 10 Geriatric Resource Nurses and launched their first evidence-based initiative which includes a comprehensive, 24-hour sleep protocol designed to align with patients’ natural circadian rhythms and minimize hospital-induced sleep disruption.
“Hospital stays can be particularly overwhelming for older adults, and small changes in environment and routine can make a profound difference in their recovery,” said Carrie Bennett, geriatrics clinical nurse specialist at Meriter. “By empowering our nursing team with specialized geriatric training, we are leading the way in compassionate, age-friendly care that helps our patients heal faster and return home safely.”
This protocol implements changes across all shifts on the units. Day shift focuses on promoting daytime mobility, ensuring patients sit up in a chair for meals and maintaining a bright, well-lit environment to boost daytime alertness.
Evening shift works on winding down activity, encouraging personalized sleep hygiene routines, eliminating blue-light exposure from televisions by a set time, offering red-light therapy and administering physician-approved melatonin by 8:00 p.m.
The overnight shift works on bundling nursing care to minimize nighttime interruptions, maintaining a dark and quiet atmosphere and offering white noise machines or fans based on patient preference.
Disrupted sleep in hospitalized seniors is strongly linked to hospital-acquired delirium, increased fall risks and extended hospital stays. By re-establishing healthy sleep habits on the unit, Meriter aims to decrease hospital acquired delirium in patients 65 and older, reduce reliance on sleep medication, reduce night-time falls and improve patient-reported sleep scores.
