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Light measurement in the hospital: A comparison of two methods
Author(s) -
Higgins Patricia A.,
Winkelman Chris,
Lipson Amy R.,
Guo SuEr,
Rodgers James
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.20167
Subject(s) - descriptive statistics , medicine , light intensity , bland–altman plot , audiology , statistics , limits of agreement , mathematics , optics , nuclear medicine , physics
Disrupted sleep in hospitalized patients is widely reported, and ambient environmental lighting may be both a contributor to and a modifier of sleep/wake patterns. This is the first study to examine the congruence between two types of light meters, a wrist‐worn device and a stand‐alone device, and their respective light intensity measurements. The study sample included 20 light trials in 17 patients for a total of 480 paired light measurements. Descriptive data analysis indicated that both light meters dependably recorded changes in light levels, and Bland Altman plots demonstrated congruence between data from the two types of light meters. The results provide promising data on how to measure patient exposure to ambient light dependably in the continuously changing and unpredictable clinical setting. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 30: 120–128, 2007