Can wearable tech monitor sleep in the chaos of an ER?

Health · Published 20 October 2026 · Updated 21 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When patients are admitted from the emergency department, sleep loss can trigger severe complications like delirium. However, capturing objective data in such a high-disruption environment is notoriously difficult. Researchers are now testing whether simple consumer wearables can provide a low-burden solution for monitoring the most vulnerable patients.

A pilot study conducted between February and March 2025 explored the feasibility of using the Oura Ring Gen 3 to monitor sleep in older adults (aged 65+) admitted from the emergency department. The goal was to see if a wearable could provide longitudinal data in a setting where objective measurement is usually hard to achieve.

The study found that the technology was both feasible and acceptable. Out of 15 enrolled patients, 13 (92.9%) wore the ring for at least 75% of the analyzed period. Furthermore, 81.8% of those who completed the exit survey reported that the ring was not bothersome, suggesting that the device does not significantly disrupt the patient experience during acute hospitalization.

Data from the 13 participants who met the wear-time threshold showed a median device-estimated sleep duration of 4.3 hours per 24 hours. Notably, there was a positive association between the device-estimated sleep duration and the mean sleep quality reported by the patients (Kendall τ=0.54; P =.04). These findings suggest that ring-based monitoring could be a viable tool for validating sleep patterns against more complex methods like polysomnography in hospital settings.

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