Subjective sleep characteristics of patients hospitalized in a coronary care unit

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Verran and Snyder-Halpern (VSH) Sleep Scale on patients hospitalized in a coronary care unit (CCU) and to investigate the sleep characteristics of patients hospitalized in the CCU setting. Eighteen subjects aged 43 to 78 completed 30 nights of study using the VSH Sleep Scale. Results were compared to means from groups of healthy subjects and subjects hospitalized on general medical-surgical units. The VSH Sleep Scale demonstrated reliability in this group of CCU subjects. Factor analysis showed loadings on four factors rather than the theoretical three factors probably due to small sample size. The mean scores for this sample of CCU patients indicated their nighttime sleep was disturbed and ineffective. Significantly different sleep characteristics were demonstrated between CCU and healthy subjects. Comparisons between CCU and general medical-surgical subjects evidenced no differences in sleep characteristics