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Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

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Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#51

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

anon2775 wrote: post #21

When I was at the Stanford cardiac unit last, they let me sleep. That wasn't the problem but they had a problem giving me privacy: door wide open, curtain wide open.

I was also at Stanford hospital earlier this year, for a few weeks over two different stays. I don't know which is the cardiac unit, but I remember being in units D1, D3, F3, and G2. Some times I was closer to the door; some times closer to the window. In both cases, I had times when I would need to specifically ask a nurse (or nurse assistant) to close the door (or the curtain), but I don't ever remember having pushback on my request.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#52

Post by cknoxrun »

MattLaroche wrote: post #45
CodeAndCuffs wrote: post #30

For both of our children, the hospital caused us more stress and discomfort than anything else. Newborn baby's finally asleep, wife is comfortable re pain, finally start to get some sleep. Then the nurse comes in at 2 am, writes her name on the board, asks us questions that they should have the answer to, then leaves. Nurse change 3x a day, baby doctor checking in to ask if were ok, mom doctor doing the same, house k…

I hear it. For our first child, for the first 24 hours or so postpartum, my wife and child both needed something checked every couple hours. Our overnight nurse said something like "I'll be doing your wife's checks at midnight and 2am, and your baby's at 1am and 3am". When I asked if my wife and child could be checked in the same entries, it turned out they could. I was surprised the hospital didn't do it by default…

Did you have your child in the US? If so I am curious, do the nurses come and visit your home the next day and a week after? I live in Canada and was very surprised when they came to check on the baby and my wife the next day, looking for jaundice, bleeding, etc. I'm genuinely curious if that is covered by insurance in the US?

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#53

Post by cperciva »

anon2775 wrote: post #21

When I was at the Stanford cardiac unit last, they let me sleep. That wasn't the problem but they had a problem giving me privacy: door wide open, curtain wide open.

Patients with privacy are patients who end up dying. Hospital floor plans are designed to ensure that nurses can see if patients take a turn for the worse.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#54

Post by Myrth »

onion2k wrote: post #46
Xcelerate wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like it’s backward to me. The machine should be silent if everything is ok and start beeping if things are going wrong.

How would you tell the difference between a machine that's working and a machine that's been switched off?

Make it play a quiet calming music to the patients taste

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#55

Post by craftyguy »

quwert95 wrote: post #25
craftyguy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think all hospital patients meet all (or even any) of the three points you listed. Hospitals should wake up folks that actually need it (e.g. folks like you in your past situation), and leave those who don't need it alone to sleep.

I mostly agree. The author of the piece didn't go into much detail about their medical needs at the time - perhaps they were a high-attention patient and didn't know it? Hence my call to educate oneself about their own situation. When you're in a foreign bed/room, in some amount of discomfort, on (likely) new medicine, you probably aren't the best judge of neediness and intent. The best you can do is ask and see what…

There should be an equal call to educate hospital staff, to inform patients about their requirements, and to apply their requirements on a case-by-case basis instead of applying it to all patients regardless of needs.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#56

Post by TeMPOraL »

ajmurmann wrote: post #38
amluto wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Same with audio on machines, that constant beep is annoying to you, but it means the machines are operating and you are getting your prescribed fluids - silence on a night ward is a sign something is wrong, and quickly precedes an emergency alarm. Sure, if there is one source of beeps, then no beeps would be conspicuous, but when there are many things all beeping, having one of them stop beeping may not be so obvio…

To me the beeping also seemed like a quality backwards solution where much better, seemingly obvious solutions exist. Reality is probably much more complicated though. In a solution like you described and I had in my head we'd need a agreed upon protocol between IV drip and monitoring device. Probably the same standard should be used by other, similar devices. If that doesn't happen we get vendor lock in. In addition…

> In a solution like you described and I had in my head we'd need a agreed upon protocol between IV drip and monitoring device. Probably the same standard should be used by other, similar devices. If that doesn't happen we get vendor lock in.

And a vendor lock-in is the goal of the vendor, both in medical and consumer space! Which is why such protocols rarely happen in either.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#57

Post by tuckermi »

cknoxrun wrote: post #52
MattLaroche wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear it. For our first child, for the first 24 hours or so postpartum, my wife and child both needed something checked every couple hours. Our overnight nurse said something like "I'll be doing your wife's checks at midnight and 2am, and your baby's at 1am and 3am". When I asked if my wife and child could be checked in the same entries, it turned out they could. I was surprised the hospital didn't do it by default…

Did you have your child in the US? If so I am curious, do the nurses come and visit your home the next day and a week after? I live in Canada and was very surprised when they came to check on the baby and my wife the next day, looking for jaundice, bleeding, etc. I'm genuinely curious if that is covered by insurance in the US?

I would guess it depends on the specific circumstance as well as the insurer. With that said, I'm not the GP (but am based in the US), but in our case the hospital arranged for a visiting nurse to do a check in the next day and it was covered by our insurance.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#58

Post by deanclatworthy »

Of course YMMV.

Having spent two spells recently in hospital after surgery, it didn’t bother me in the slightest being woken for 30s every few hours. Usually it coincided with me being brought painkillers, water and snacks. All of which were welcome.

There was also no issue regarding beeps in the post operative care unit that I remember. I was also given my personal belongings, as soon as I was able to structure a coherent sentence, which included headphones.

Similarly to other commenters, I should point out you might not be so quick to use technology to solve this problem. Implementing technology into an area where lives are at risk (ICU) takes a long time - with good reason. I saw a comment talking about a centralised monitoring desk. Good luck finding a ward where you are always staffed enough to have someone watching that. There is a good reason sounds have remained as the primary monitoring cue for so many years.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#59

Post by chrisbennet »

amluto wrote: post #27
rco8786 wrote: post #8

My 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.

Ask them to stop, perhaps?

Sure, just get out of bed and run them down and ask them to stop...
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