In the realm of behavioral health care, ensuring the safety of patients while they sleep is a fundamental yet challenging task. Patients in psychiatric hospitals or inpatient behavioral health settings require constant attention to safeguard their well-being, which often means conducting routine safety checks. These checks, commonly referred to as Q15s (fifteen-minute patient safety checks), are necessary to ensure patients are safe, particularly those at higher risk due to their mental health conditions. However, these safety protocols can unintentionally disrupt patients’ sleep, which is critical for their recovery.
This presents a dilemma for behavioral health providers. On one hand, patients need their sleep to support their healing process, as adequate rest is vital for brain function and emotional well-being. On the other hand, staff must maintain vigilance by conducting checks to prevent any safety issues that may arise. This dichotomy underscores a growing need for solutions that balance patient safety with the restorative power of sleep, and behavioral health sleep monitoring may provide the key to resolving this challenge.
The Connection Between Sleep and Mental Health
The connection between sleep and mental health has long been recognized by researchers, and modern science continues to uncover more details about this critical relationship. Poor sleep is not only a symptom of mental health disorders, but it also contributes to the onset and worsening of conditions like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. Studies show that sleep disturbances often precede the onset of mental illness, making them an early warning sign of potential mental health issues. This connection is bidirectional, meaning that while sleep disturbances may lead to mental health problems, mental health conditions can also disrupt sleep patterns, creating a vicious cycle that can be difficult to break.
Dan Joyce, Professor of Connected Mental Health at the University of Liverpool, UK, explains that disruptions to sleep are common in patients who are at the early stages of mental health disorders. “We almost always discover that there has been some disruption or dysregulation of their sleep in the days, weeks, and very often months before the onset of mental illness,” Joyce says. This underscores the importance of sleep for mental health recovery and highlights the need for behavioral health sleep monitoring in inpatient settings.
Sleep plays a vital role in the brain’s restorative processes. It is during sleep that the brain consolidates memories, reorganizes synaptic connections, and engages in other necessary repair functions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults aged 18 and older get at least seven hours of sleep every night to maintain optimal health. For individuals aged 60 and older, the recommended sleep duration increases to eight or nine hours. When patients don’t get enough rest, they are more likely to experience frequent mental distress and emotional instability, making sleep quality an essential component of effective behavioral health treatment.
Despite these facts, many behavioral health settings have not prioritized creating environments that promote good sleep. For patients who are already struggling with mental health issues, disrupted sleep due to routine safety checks can worsen their condition. For instance, safety checks often require staff to enter rooms, turn on lights, or use flashlights to observe patients. These actions, while necessary for safety, can disrupt sleep and counteract the therapeutic benefits of rest. As Joyce points out, “It’s very hard to make an entirely, 100% safe bedroom space for a patient, and to check them without opening the door and either switching on the light or shining a flashlight into the room.”
Improving Sleep in Behavioral Health Inpatients
Improving sleep quality for behavioral health patients has significant benefits for their overall recovery. Research in acute hospitals has shown that patients in facilities with clear nighttime sleep policies experience better care outcomes and higher satisfaction levels. However, in behavioral health settings, this goal faces two major challenges. First, safety checks are non-negotiable because the risks associated with inpatient behavioral health care are multifaceted and can have severe consequences. Second, the traditional methods of monitoring sleep, such as EEG devices and other invasive technologies, often interfere with patients’ ability to sleep soundly, exacerbating the very issues that need to be addressed.
Standard sleep studies involve attaching multiple devices to patients to monitor brain activity, heart rhythms, and breathing patterns. While these devices are essential for understanding sleep patterns, they are highly intrusive and can disrupt the patient’s sleep. In behavioral health settings, this becomes even more problematic as patients may already have sleep disorders related to their mental health. Researchers, like Joyce, are exploring non-invasive methods to monitor sleep that don’t require the attachment of devices to patients. “What we are seeking is something that sits between the two, something that will give a good, consistent measurement of sleep without attaching any devices to the patient,” Joyce explains. Behavioral health sleep monitoring technology aims to provide a solution that does just that, offering effective insights without interfering with the patient’s rest.
This is where technological innovations come into play, providing a solution that balances safety with the need for restful sleep. New systems are now available that allow behavioral health providers to monitor patients while minimizing disruptions to their sleep. One such innovation is Oxevision, a contactless patient monitoring system that is FDA-cleared and designed to support behavioral health care. Oxevision enables staff to conduct Q15 checks without entering the patient’s room or disturbing their rest. The system provides medical-grade cardiorespiratory vital sign measurements and allows staff to visually assess the patient’s safety through 15-second visual snapshots. This non-intrusive monitoring ensures that patients remain safe while also preserving their sleep.
Safety Checks Without Disruption
The introduction of contactless monitoring systems like Oxevision is helping behavioral health providers address the challenges of balancing safety checks with the need for sleep. Oxevision’s technology offers several benefits for both patients and staff. First, the system delivers real-time, medical-grade measurements of vital signs such as heart rate and respiration, providing an accurate way to check if a patient is alive and well. Second, it allows staff to perform their safety checks without disturbing the patient’s sleep, as it captures 15 seconds of visual data (with privacy controls) that staff can use to assess the patient’s condition. This data is not recorded as video, ensuring privacy is maintained.
In a survey of 77 behavioral health patients, over 70% reported sleeping better when Oxevision was used for their nighttime checks. Additionally, staff found that Oxevision reduced the time spent conducting rounds by half, allowing them to complete checks more efficiently while still ensuring patient safety. This technology is helping to improve both the quality of care and the quality of sleep for patients in behavioral health facilities.
The Future of Sleep Insights in Behavioral Health
Looking to the future, the integration of sleep data into behavioral health treatment plans offers exciting possibilities for personalized care. With access to accurate, objective sleep insights, clinical teams will be able to tailor their treatment strategies to address individual patient needs more effectively. For instance, medications could be prescribed in a way that maximizes their therapeutic effects on sleep, ensuring that patients get the rest they need to support their mental health recovery.
The collection of sleep data in behavioral health settings also opens the door for improved clinical oversight and unit-level quality improvement. Hospitals and facilities can use sleep data to evaluate the effectiveness of sleep-related treatments and medications, helping them make more informed decisions about patient care. Payers, too, are increasingly interested in the quality of sleep that patients are receiving, as this can have a significant impact on treatment outcomes. By providing accurate, non-disruptive sleep monitoring, facilities can offer higher-quality care and demonstrate the value of their services to payers and other stakeholders.
Ultimately, with the help of non-invasive technologies like Oxevision, behavioral health providers can ensure that their patients are safe while also supporting their sleep and recovery. The integration of behavioral health sleep monitoring into treatment plans will allow for more personalized, effective care that improves both patient outcomes and satisfaction. In the end, when patients get the rest they need, everyone in the behavioral health care system can sleep easier at night.In the realm of behavioral health care, ensuring the safety of patients while they sleep is a fundamental yet challenging task. Patients in psychiatric hospitals or inpatient behavioral health settings require constant attention to safeguard their well-being, which often means conducting routine safety checks. These checks, commonly referred to as Q15s (fifteen-minute patient safety checks), are necessary to ensure patients are safe, particularly those at higher risk due to their mental health conditions. However, these safety protocols can unintentionally disrupt patients’ sleep, which is critical for their recovery.
This presents a dilemma for behavioral health providers. On one hand, patients need their sleep to support their healing process, as adequate rest is vital for brain function and emotional well-being. On the other hand, staff must maintain vigilance by conducting checks to prevent any safety issues that may arise. This dichotomy underscores a growing need for solutions that balance patient safety with the restorative power of sleep, and behavioral health sleep monitoring may provide the key to resolving this challenge.
The Connection Between Sleep and Mental Health
The connection between sleep and mental health has long been recognized by researchers, and modern science continues to uncover more details about this critical relationship. Poor sleep is not only a symptom of mental health disorders, but it also contributes to the onset and worsening of conditions like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. Studies show that sleep disturbances often precede the onset of mental illness, making them an early warning sign of potential mental health issues. This connection is bidirectional, meaning that while sleep disturbances may lead to mental health problems, mental health conditions can also disrupt sleep patterns, creating a vicious cycle that can be difficult to break.
Dan Joyce, Professor of Connected Mental Health at the University of Liverpool, UK, explains that disruptions to sleep are common in patients who are at the early stages of mental health disorders. “We almost always discover that there has been some disruption or dysregulation of their sleep in the days, weeks, and very often months before the onset of mental illness,” Joyce says. This underscores the importance of sleep for mental health recovery and highlights the need for behavioral health sleep monitoring in inpatient settings.
Sleep plays a vital role in the brain’s restorative processes. It is during sleep that the brain consolidates memories, reorganizes synaptic connections, and engages in other necessary repair functions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults aged 18 and older get at least seven hours of sleep every night to maintain optimal health. For individuals aged 60 and older, the recommended sleep duration increases to eight or nine hours. When patients don’t get enough rest, they are more likely to experience frequent mental distress and emotional instability, making sleep quality an essential component of effective behavioral health treatment.
Despite these facts, many behavioral health settings have not prioritized creating environments that promote good sleep. For patients who are already struggling with mental health issues, disrupted sleep due to routine safety checks can worsen their condition. For instance, safety checks often require staff to enter rooms, turn on lights, or use flashlights to observe patients. These actions, while necessary for safety, can disrupt sleep and counteract the therapeutic benefits of rest. As Joyce points out, “It’s very hard to make an entirely, 100% safe bedroom space for a patient, and to check them without opening the door and either switching on the light or shining a flashlight into the room.”
Improving Sleep in Behavioral Health Inpatients
Improving sleep quality for behavioral health patients has significant benefits for their overall recovery. Research in acute hospitals has shown that patients in facilities with clear nighttime sleep policies experience better care outcomes and higher satisfaction levels. However, in behavioral health settings, this goal faces two major challenges. First, safety checks are non-negotiable because the risks associated with inpatient behavioral health care are multifaceted and can have severe consequences. Second, the traditional methods of monitoring sleep, such as EEG devices and other invasive technologies, often interfere with patients’ ability to sleep soundly, exacerbating the very issues that need to be addressed.
Standard sleep studies involve attaching multiple devices to patients to monitor brain activity, heart rhythms, and breathing patterns. While these devices are essential for understanding sleep patterns, they are highly intrusive and can disrupt the patient’s sleep. In behavioral health settings, this becomes even more problematic as patients may already have sleep disorders related to their mental health. Researchers, like Joyce, are exploring non-invasive methods to monitor sleep that don’t require the attachment of devices to patients. “What we are seeking is something that sits between the two, something that will give a good, consistent measurement of sleep without attaching any devices to the patient,” Joyce explains. Behavioral health sleep monitoring technology aims to provide a solution that does just that, offering effective insights without interfering with the patient’s rest.
This is where technological innovations come into play, providing a solution that balances safety with the need for restful sleep. New systems are now available that allow behavioral health providers to monitor patients while minimizing disruptions to their sleep. One such innovation is Oxevision, a contactless patient monitoring system that is FDA-cleared and designed to support behavioral health care. Oxevision enables staff to conduct Q15 checks without entering the patient’s room or disturbing their rest. The system provides medical-grade cardiorespiratory vital sign measurements and allows staff to visually assess the patient’s safety through 15-second visual snapshots. This non-intrusive monitoring ensures that patients remain safe while also preserving their sleep.
Safety Checks Without Disruption
The introduction of contactless monitoring systems like Oxevision is helping behavioral health providers address the challenges of balancing safety checks with the need for sleep. Oxevision’s technology offers several benefits for both patients and staff. First, the system delivers real-time, medical-grade measurements of vital signs such as heart rate and respiration, providing an accurate way to check if a patient is alive and well. Second, it allows staff to perform their safety checks without disturbing the patient’s sleep, as it captures 15 seconds of visual data (with privacy controls) that staff can use to assess the patient’s condition. This data is not recorded as video, ensuring privacy is maintained.
In a survey of 77 behavioral health patients, over 70% reported sleeping better when Oxevision was used for their nighttime checks. Additionally, staff found that Oxevision reduced the time spent conducting rounds by half, allowing them to complete checks more efficiently while still ensuring patient safety. This technology is helping to improve both the quality of care and the quality of sleep for patients in behavioral health facilities.
The Future of Sleep Insights in Behavioral Health
Looking to the future, the integration of sleep data into behavioral health treatment plans offers exciting possibilities for personalized care. With access to accurate, objective sleep insights, clinical teams will be able to tailor their treatment strategies to address individual patient needs more effectively. For instance, medications could be prescribed in a way that maximizes their therapeutic effects on sleep, ensuring that patients get the rest they need to support their mental health recovery.
The collection of sleep data in behavioral health settings also opens the door for improved clinical oversight and unit-level quality improvement. Hospitals and facilities can use sleep data to evaluate the effectiveness of sleep-related treatments and medications, helping them make more informed decisions about patient care. Payers, too, are increasingly interested in the quality of sleep that patients are receiving, as this can have a significant impact on treatment outcomes. By providing accurate, non-disruptive sleep monitoring, facilities can offer higher-quality care and demonstrate the value of their services to payers and other stakeholders.
Ultimately, with the help of non-invasive technologies like Oxevision, behavioral health providers can ensure that their patients are safe while also supporting their sleep and recovery. The integration of behavioral health sleep monitoring into treatment plans will allow for more personalized, effective care that improves both patient outcomes and satisfaction. In the end, when patients get the rest they need, everyone in the behavioral health care system can sleep easier at night.
