PDSA SLEEP DEPRIVATION, MOOD

PDSA SLEEP DEPRIVATION, MOOD
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Introduction
Sleep is the natural state that recurs voluntarily and involuntarily in an individual which is characterized by reduced consciousness. During sleep almost all the voluntary muscles are inactive and an individual is in a complete state of rest. It accentuates the growth and the rejuvenation of most body systems and is also a form of refreshing actions of the body parts. Sleep is therefore a very important state and for an individual to be healthy, he/she has to observe proper and adequate sleep. Sleep involves a condition whereby a person does not have enough sleep. This condition can either be chronic or acute can cause fatigue, weight loss or weight gain, daytime sleepiness and clumsiness. Lack of enough sleep greatly affects the brain and its cognitive functions (Neckelmann et al., 2007). It is however, impossible for human to achieve complete sleepless situations for a long period of time. Brief microsleeps cannot be avoided and research has shown that lack of sleep for long periods of time can cause deaths (Thao, 2008).
Reasons for the quality indicator or safety goal, identify healthcare environment focus area
The healthcare environment under study is acute care. In this working environment, concentration and accuracy are highly desired. Therefore the nurses need to be very keen on the services that they provide. Failure to observe accuracy may lead to poor services being provided which may in turn result in the death of patients. Reduced vigilance, memory and lack of coordination are some of the main characteristic of a sleepy individual. Such an individual will have the following characteristic: lack of enough energy to perform his/her duties, poor communication, ineffective solution perseverance, lack of concentration and bad mood. A person with these disorders is usually very careless when handling patients and even on how he/she related with the fellow nurses. The person can then compromise on the performance of the duties that may result into making poor decisions that may on the long run cause the death of the patients.
Sleep and mood are closely related and research has shown that inadequate or poor sleeping behavior can cause irritability and stress as adequate sleep enhances well being and good health of an individual. Cases of chronic insomnia may propagate the risk of developing other complications like mood disorder, anxiety and depression. These usually affect the productivity of an individual since a stressed person cannot be able to deliver properly. This condition can be worsened if a person works in a critical environment for example the case of nurses working in hospitals. When they lack sleep, their moods usually change and will in the long run make unnecessary mistakes as their accuracy is highly compromised.
Scope and severity
Lack of enough sleep is a common occurrence in the modern world. Some people answer duty call voluntarily while others answer them involuntarily after being forced by circumstances. Some people are of the opinion that they need to maximize on their income by engaging in more work which eventually affects their sleeping patterns. An extended period of wakefulness has been shown to reduce the productivity of an individual and also greatly affects the life of the individual. There are some stages of sleep which are needed for the regeneration of neurons in the cerebral cortex while other stages of sleep are needed for the formation of new memories. Therefore if a person denies himself/herself the chance of enough sleep, he/she is likely to encounter problems with the brain development thus greatly affecting how decisions are made by the individual regarding a given situation. This is one of the main causes of the lack of accuracy among the nurses who have spent long periods of time at their work place without getting enough sleep to regenerate and refresh their memories.
Sleep deprivation studies helps in the study of the relationship that exists between the brain and the behavior of an individual. A person`s brain can operate for prolonged periods of time before being given enough rest. Different sections of the brain rest at different time during the sleep process. Therefore sleep should not be cut short and an individual needs to have prolonged and sufficient period of time while sleeping so as to ensure that all sections of the brain rest the individual is able to refresh his/her memories. Without enough sleep, brains deteriorate and the general behavior of an individual is also affected hence the occurrence of irrational problem solving techniques. This topic is very important as it helps in the realization of the importance of sleep in the workplace (Giedd, 2009).
Quality Improvement Initiative
The nursing profession or the general medical profession is a very critical area of operation. Accuracy is of utmost importance. Accuracy can only be achieved when the individual is very alert. A depressed individual is however, withdrawn and usually does not depict alertness hence a compromise in accuracy. Usually duty will call and as a medical practitioner you have no choice but to answer to the duty call. Some of the emergency calls are answered without taking into consideration whether the nurse is in the best form to attend to it. When a nurse has had prolonged period of time at the work place without sleep, he/she will often feel depressed and may not deliver as desired. If a person has a sleep debt, his/her inclination to fall asleep during the working hours increased. The larger the sleep debt the more the inclination to fall asleep and this may greatly affect the performance of an individual. Inaccuracy of the nurses at the work place which is brought about by mood disorders as a result of sleep deprivation has even caused deaths since nurses make wrong diagnosis, administer wrong drugs or wrong quant...