Effect of timing of morning blood draws on sleep quantity and quality in hospitalized patients

BACKGROUND: Sleep deprivation significantly impacts millions of hospitalized patients and is a critical factor in their recovery process. One major contributor to sleep disturbances is early morning blood draws. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effect of delaying early morning blood draws by 2 h on both sleep quality and quantity. METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, we recruited adult medical patients admitted to two similar acute medical units. Patients in one unit were assigned to have their routing morning blood draws at the usual time of 4:00 a.m., while those in the other unit had their blood draws delayed until 6:00 a.m. Primary outcomes of sleep quality and quantity were evaluated using two primary measures: the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) and self-reported sleep duration. RESULTS: A total of 128 patients were included (64 in the 4:00 a.m. group and 64 in the 6:00 a.m. group). The timing of blood draws was significantly associated with sleep quality, with a higher mean sleep quality score in the 6:00 a.m. group of 63.7 (standard deviation [SD] = 21.8) compared with a mean of 53.2 (SD = 22.1) (p = .006) in the 4:00 a.m. group. Additionally, the 6:00 a.m. group averaged 7.0 h of sleep (SD = 2.6), while the 4:00 a.m. group averaged 5.9 h (SD = 2.5) (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study found that among hospitalized adult patients, later morning blood draw times were associated with better sleep quality and longer sleep duration compared with earlier morning blood draw times.