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Background night-time sedation prescribed during a hospital stay can result in long-term use of such medications in older people. We examined the effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention to reduce night time sedation in an inpatient rehabilitation unit. Methods an initial retrospective survey of night-time sedative use was followed by prospective re-evaluation after a number of changes were made including education of staff and of patients regarding the potential hazards of sedative medications, measures to promote sleep hygiene and facilitate a ‘quiet time’ after 10 pm and development of a withdrawal protocol for patients on long-term night sedation. The primary outcome measures were the proportions of patients started on night sedation in the unit and the proportion of those using night sedation where a dose reduction was attempted before and after the intervention. Results night sedation was prescribed for 22/68 (32.4%) subjects in the pre- and 23/169 (13.6%) subjects in the post-intervention surveys (P = 0.001); medication started while in the unit dropped from 10 (14.7%) to 1 (0.6%) (P < 0.0001). There was an improvement in the proportion of patients using night sedation where an attempt was made to reduce the dosage of or eliminate sedative drug use prior to discharge after the intervention was introduced (3/22 (13.6%) vs 14/23 (60.9%) (P = 0.001)). Conclusions a multifaceted intervention, including ongoing education, audit and feedback and changes to unit practices to promote a ‘quiet time’ at night, leads to a substantial reduction in the use of night sedation in inpatients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]