This pilot study compared the sleep quality and quantity of parents who slept at their hospitalized child's bedside with parents who slept at the hospital's onsite Ronald McDonald House® (RMH). Wrist actigraphy and questionnaires were used to estimate parent sleep quality and quantity. Parents who slept at their hospitalized child's bedside (n = 27) experienced more sleep disruption (wake after sleep onset) and reported poorer sleep quality and feeling less rested than parents who slept at RMH (n = 11). Bedside accommodation was associated with poorer parent sleep even when controlling for the covariates of child age and parent gender. Nearby family accommodations, such as RMH, may facilitate parent-child proximity during a child's hospitalization while also providing parents with opportunities for essential sleep.
The experiences of the first graduate children's nurses to qualify on Part 15 of the UKCC Register were drawn on for this study. The literature shows that stress is more prevalent in newly qualified staff nurses. In order to provide optimum support, awareness of the particular factors that create stress at this time is vital. There was a chronological dimension to the stress experience of the children's nurses', which began with an initial feeling of survival and ended with a sense of equilibrium. Situations which would have initially evoked stress were no longer perceived as stressful as their confidence grew. Towards the end of the year, any specific stressful events were associated with increased managerial responsibilities or beginning a new job. The nurses consistently reported increased stress when dealing with a number of specific situations.
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