Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
motherjones.com
Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
1–10 of 528 posts
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#2I just showed this to my mother, a nurse. She laughed and said “it’s pretty stupid, but they would rather fix it with a pill if that’s an option”.
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#3Since bootstrapping my own sleep aid startup (https://trycosmo.com/), I've been surprised at the lack of priority society places on sleep in general. Better sleep would help patients recover better and shorten hospital stays. The inability to sleep, especially in the ICU, likely results in tens of thousands of unnecessary secondary infections and deaths per year.
I like the author's approach of simply refusing to give blood at night. My guess is that hospitals default to checking vitals so frequently to avoid liability-- could you imagine the headline if a patient died because his vitals had not been checked for eight hours?
A simple "Do not disturb" sign for patients would resolve all of these issues.
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#4When my wife was in the hospital after the birth of both our two kids (premature so they weren't in the room with her to care for, they were in the NICU).... I chose to go home to sleep as the nurses just came and went endlessly. Someone had to get sleep.
Then my oldest son was in the hospital for a while. He was sick so I wasn't too surprised he was napping all the time until spent a few nights sleeping at the hospital with him and realized he was probabbly napping constantly in the day because the nurses would wake him, and me.... constantly all night.
When we went home we both crashed and napped a bit and then slept all night... i swear he recovered faster after catching up on sleep at home.
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#5Since bootstrapping my own sleep aid startup ( https://trycosmo.com/ ), I've been surprised at the lack of priority society places on sleep in general. Better sleep would help patients recover better and shorten hospital stays. The inability to sleep, especially in the ICU, likely results in tens of thousands of unnecessary secondary infections and deaths per year. I like the author's approach of simply refusing to g…
> These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
> Your search - site:trycosmo.com peer review - did not match any documents
Sounds promising. Untested sleep drugs, sign me up!
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#6Anecdotally this seems like it's probably a real problem, but doesn't he only have a sample size of one hospital stay?
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#7I once spent two weeks in hospital with a smashed vertebra waiting for operation. I'm sure many of the individuals involved are trying their best, but it definitely feels more like a place for dying than a place for healing.
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#8My wife just finished up a 22 hour labor and is desperately trying to get some sleep but the nurses refuse to stop yelling and laughing directly outside of her door.
It’s not even medical. Just rude.
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#9I felt the question and answer to be a little flippant, which is fine, but hear this: Sometimes there are reasons, very genuine reasons. I've been recovering from a recent stay. I, too, was interrupted frequently - every 45 minutes in fact. After a few nods off and being woken up by a knock at the door repeatedly I asked 'why' and the staff gently explained that me sleeping for too long would be a bad idea for a few reasons:
1. My surgery affected my nervous system and thyroid; maintaining blood flow (especially in my legs) was important.
2. Knowing how I felt at the time kept the nurses informed about the dosage of medicine they should administer. Hormones and their effects can change rapidly.
3. Having a patient awake for blood draws, or an emergency, is useful. I’m not a small person; turning me over for some blood is much easier if I am awake and cooperative.
I can imagine anyone with recent head trauma shouldn’t be allowed to sleep either.
Ask your doctor (and nurses!) to keep you informed and educated about your situation. You're responsible for yourself. Medicine isn’t always intuitive, especially if you’re not yourself yet.
Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?
#10For the birth of my second child, I learned to manage hospital staff so that they would leave my wife and newborn alone unless there was an emergency. I proactively scheduled scans, vital checks for the next morning so that the patients could rest.
The experience was so much better than what my wife and first child had. I do not understand why hospitals cannot do this kind of considerate scheduling by default.