Thank you for your interest in making hospitals more sleep-friendly. This Toolkit, developed by the Sleep Health Foundation (SHF), is designed for hospital staff and management who are interested in improving the sleep quality of their patients while they are recovering in hospital.
The Toolkit components are:
- A fact sheet designed to be distributed to patients with information on how to maximise their sleep quality while in hospital
- A SHF Code of Practice for Sleep Care in Hospitals. Hospital management submit an application to the SHF for recognition of their hospital as demonstrating excellence in the delivery of a sleep conductive environment to patients.
- A short questionnaire for patients for the assessment of their sleep while in hospital and asking about disruptions to their sleep (Attachment 2 in the Code of Practice).
- A document entitled How to develop and implement a Sleep Care policy for your hospital, designed to assist staff in achieving Code of Practice accreditation. (Attachment 1 in the Code of Practice)
This Toolkit has been created by a SHF Working Group that consists of sleep health clinicians (doctors, nurses and sleep scientists), researchers and academics as well as hospital staff with responsibility for improving the patient experience while in hospital. A list of people in the Working Group can be found here (LINK). Please contact the SHF CEO on for further information.
Forthcoming additions to the Toolkit
- A short account of the pilot implementation of a Sleep Care program at St Vincent’s hospital (Sydney) from December 2021. The highly successful program was entitled HUSH (Help Us Support Healing).
- A short review of the published international literature on improving sleep care in hospital
- A peer-reviewed international journal publication that reviews the available literature relevant to sleep care in health care settings.
- A comprehensive patient questionnaire evaluating multiple aspects that may affect sleep quality and quantity while in hospital.
If you're interested in becoming certified by the Sleep Health Foundation for the Sleep Care in Hospitals Code of Practice, you can download an interactive application form here.