Polysomnography patient experience an IPA study.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How many wires? Experiences and insights of polysomnographic procedures from patients with sleep disorders. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis study
IRAS ID
182451
Contact name
Laura England
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
The research planned proposes to investigate the patient’s experience of an overnight polysomnography sleep study. The service has been running for 12 months and demand has increased, requiring staff to dedicate more time to performing and reporting the tests and requiring the department to find increased capacity in the way of ward and bed space. It is important to understand how the patients feel about the current procedures (waiting times, information provided, test explanations, ward environment, results procedure) what they feel they require from the service and how they feel it could be improved. Polysomnography is the gold standard test for diagnosing sleep disorders (Kushida et al., 2005) and there is lots of research into its uses in diagnosing all types of neurological and respiratory sleep disorders (AASM, 2014), but there is very little research into the polysomnography procedure from a patient’s point of view; it is a test that requires sleeping overnight in an unfamiliar environment with a large number of sensors attached to the head, face and body. The room we use for our sleep studies is private, but is situated in a rehabilitation unit, where other patients require 24hr care. Background noise, lighting and comfort have been remarked upon by some of our previous patients, along with how long they waited for the test, and for the results. Patient reports suggest that some of them appear to have been overwhelmed by the experience whilst others take it in their stride. Over the last decade healthcare focus has been on patient-centred care including involving patients in decision making and understanding their experiences in the hospital setting to improve care and the service provided (Biggerstaff & Thompson, 2008; DOH, 2010; NHSEngland, 2013; Parliament, 2006; The-Picker-Institute, 2009), By understanding the experiences, thoughts and feelings of the patients undergoing polysomnography, the researcher can find out the positive and negative aspects of the service, find out what matters to the patients and make recommendations regarding how it could be altered or improved with benefit to the patients.
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/WM/0250
Date of REC Opinion
6 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion