The nursing staff of long‐term care facilities are often faced with the decision of whether or not to administer sleep medication when it is ordered ‘prn’. This decision should be made on the basis of information contained in the patient's nursing sleep history as well as knowledge regarding the effects of sleep medication. This study was carried out to assess the factors involved in changes in sleep patterns of elderly patients in long‐term care facilities and to evaluate the extent of use of the nursing sleep history. The sleep patterns of 102 elderly patients (mean age 78.7 years) in three long‐term care facilities were assessed by means of interview questionnaire. Patients’ records indicated that 71 were receiving some type of sleep medication on a regular basis. A quantitative analysis of their responses indicated that there were significant shifts in sleep patterns following admission. Only 54 of the patients in this study had a nursing sleep history and this contained only minimal information. The results indicate that the nursing sleep history is under‐utilized. A better appreciation of the patient's sleep requirements could lead to a reduction in the amount of sleep medication given and an improvement in the general well‐being of the long‐term care e
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