Assessing variation in inpatient sleep opportunity and associated patient‐reported sleep quality: An academic hospital‐based observational study

BACKGROUND: Overnight interruptions are common in a hospital setting, but the impact of these interruptions on the opportunity for sleep in the general inpatient population and association with perceived sleep quality is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To measure inpatient overnight sleep interruptions, their variation across adult hospital units, and associations between sleep opportunity and patient-reported sleep quality. METHODS: Retrospective observational study using electronic health record data for an academic medical center in the Midwest United States. The cohort consisted of adult patient hospital admissions between September 2023 and August 2025, limited to nights on general acute medical and surgical units. Overnight interruptions from medication administration, vital checks, or lab collection were organized into 20-min interruptive episodes. Corresponding longest and total uninterrupted sleep opportunities and patient-reported sleep quality were assessed. RESULTS: Among 46,916 patient admissions, the longest uninterrupted sleep opportunity (LUSO) per patient-night averaged 3 h 40 min, and total uninterrupted sleep opportunity (TUSO) averaged approximately 6 h 30 min. Sleep opportunity variation was seen across individual hospital units, and even more across multiple admissions per patient. Both LUSO and TUSO were positively associated with level of patient-reported sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: Inpatient sleep opportunities vary by admission and hospital unit, averaging under 4 h for the longest uninterrupted sleep opportunity on a given night. Sleep opportunity duration is associated with perceived sleep quality and could be used to assess sleep quality improvement interventions.