Children’s inpatient sleep studies on Ward C3

What is a sleep study and why is it needed?

A sleep study is a test to measure how your child breathes when they are asleep. As your child is on a ventilator to support their breathing, we will be doing regular sleep studies to ensure their ventilation settings are supporting their breathing.

Before admission

Our admissions on ward C3 take place on Mondays and Wednesday nights. Our admissions team will contact you to arrange a convenient date for the sleep study.

Our Clinical Nurse Specialists will contact you a few days before your child is due to be admitted to confirm the plan for admission. They will ask questions to ensure your child is well enough to have their sleep study done. If your child develops any temperatures or cough and cold symptoms before they are due to come in, please contact the Long Term Ventilation team as they may rearrange the admission to give your child a chance to fully recover.

On the day your child is due to be admitted, please contact the Patient Flow Co-ordinator on 07540 693036 at 12pm to confirm bed availablity. If there is no bed available when you contact the team, our Co-ordinators will ask you to phone back at a pre-arranged time. In the meantime, they will be working hard to find a bed for your child to be admitted to. The latest you will be contacted with confirmation is 4pm.

As ward C3 is an inpatient ward, there may be occasions where there is no suitable bed and we will unfortunately have to cancel the admission. If this is the case, the admissions team will contact you to rearrange the sleep study.

Getting ready to come in

You will be able to stay with your child in the fold down bed in the same bed space. Please bring all necessities to spend a night away from home. It is especially important you bring your ventilator, mask, tubing, humidifier and any other accessories for your ventilator. If your child is prescribed any medications and feeds, please bring these with you and any additional equipment you may need e.g. nebuliser machine.

On admission

You should arrive on ward C3 by 5 pm so our ward staff can introduce you to the ward and show you where the facilities are.

A doctor will review your child and make sure they are well enough for the study. Your child’s regular medications will be prescribed so that you can give them when they are due, like you would at home.

We aim to set the sleep study equipment by 8pm. This may be before your child’s normal bedtime but means the equipment is ready to go and can be attached to the monitors once your child is ready to sleep.

Some children may require a blood test just before they wake up in the morning. This will usually be arranged with you prior to coming in. Occasionally, we may detect the carbon dioxide levels or waste gas levels are below or above the expected level and we will do a blood test to confirm if the result is genuine.

Due to the layout of C3, we are unable to accommodate siblings staying overnight. Only one parent/carer can be accommodated.

We will ask you to set up your child on the ventilator as you would do at home.

The ward nurse or sleep physiologist will then connect your child to the sleep monitoring equipment.

A soft probe is wrapped around your child’s toe or finger to monitor his or her oxygen levels while asleep; the probe position will be rotated every three hours.

Two stretchy bands are put around your child’s chest and just below the waist line along with a position sensor.

A video camera will be positioned to observe your child to record their pattern of breathing while they are asleep.

A CO2 probe will be attached to their skin and the position will be rotated every three hours during the night.

The nurse will start the study recording before your child goes to sleep - settle your child to sleep as you normally would.

During the night, your designated nurse will regularly check your child to make sure everything is connected and recording.

The Long Term Ventilation team will review you the following morning and give you a provisional result for the sleep study.

Expectations of parent/carer on admission to ward C3

The parent or carer will be expected to be present and well enough to attend to their childs needs and the care of the ventilator as they would at home. If you are leaving the room for any reason, please ensure you let the nurse looking after your child know so there is always someone to look after them. The staff on the ward will be available to support you during your stay.

Please complete parental agreement and bring a signed copy with you on admission:

Parent/Carer Agreement

I the parent/carer of ….................................................... accept that during his/her admission for a sleep study:

I will stay overnight with my child for the duration of the sleep study. I will be responsible for my child’s care including their ventilator.

I will negotiate with the ward nurse a convenient time to have a short break. I will inform the ward nurse when I/we need to leave the ward so that there is always someone present.

Signed...................................……………………………………………

Print.................................................... Date...............................

Contact details

If you have any questions, please ring the LTV specialist nurses on 01223 596178

Further information

Please phone the Patient Flow Co-ordinator on 07540 693036 on the day of your child’s admission at 12pm to confirm there is a bed available.