Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#81

Post by MRD85 » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:18 AM UTC

widforss wrote: post #77

m_mueller wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I weigh in with an outside perspective? My impression is this is a cultural issue, i.e. Americans are very insensitive to noisy disturbances during sleep hours. Biggest examples for me are your freight trains. Deadly accidents? Sure, the only solution is to disturb sveryone in a 5 mile radius around each crossing. In my home country this is unthinkable. People get chewed up, sometimes called the police on, for ev…

I'll never forget the night I was visited by police in northern Norway because we committed the crime of ... haymaking at 11 pm.

I don't get this? What is haymaking?

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#82

Post by bjackman » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:19 AM UTC

I'm lucky enough never to have been in hospital myself, but FWIW:

I was recently on the jury in a coroner's inquest. A patient had died suddenly in his sleep in hospital. The solicitor whose agenda was to make the hospital look bad aimed to suggest that nurses should have been entering his room every 15 minutes to check his breathing, but all medical staff witnesses argued that sleep is too important to disrupt by entering the room during the night, unless absolutely necessary. They used a torch to shine on the patients chest through the window to check for breathing, and specified that they tried not to shine on them directly (watching a shadow on the wall is preferable).

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#83

Post by pulse7 » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:21 AM UTC

m_mueller wrote: post #63

abecedarius wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure you’re right, but being unable to sleep when you need to heal is bad . "It’s complicated" is not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

May I weigh in with an outside perspective? My impression is this is a cultural issue, i.e. Americans are very insensitive to noisy disturbances during sleep hours. Biggest examples for me are your freight trains. Deadly accidents? Sure, the only solution is to disturb sveryone in a 5 mile radius around each crossing. In my home country this is unthinkable. People get chewed up, sometimes called the police on, for ev…

You must be from Switzerland... :-)

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#84

Post by diminoten » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:25 AM UTC

> There’s much more that could be done about this, but I’ll spare you.

No! Don't spare me the details! I read for the details!

What a strange way to end an article...

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#85

Post by dingaling » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:30 AM UTC

sunkencity wrote: post #66

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…

absence of signal is not a good indicator of operation. it is the same signal as total failure of your system.

Interestingly that reflects Airbus vs Boeing cockpit philosophies.

In the early 1980s Airbus adopted Dark Cockpit where the default state of all annunciator lights is off. If one illuminates then it indicates something worthy of attention. The colour of illumination indicates functional state; blue is good, amber is malfunctional.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#86

Post by kchoudhu » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:31 AM UTC

shaunpersad wrote: post #24

kchoudhu wrote: post #10

For 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.

Can you elaborate on how you worked with the hospital staff to make this "considerate scheduling" possible? My initial feeling would be that the staff will do their jobs when it convenient for them to do it, regardless of when you would prefer them to do it. How did you manage to convince them to modify their scheduling?

I just asked! The head nurse on the floor knew that unless there was an emergency, we would like to rest between 9PM and 7AM. We would have preferred 8AM, but it was a teaching hospital and they needed to get rounds underway early in the morning.

Talk to the nurses. They control everything on the floor, the doctors are just passing through.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#87

Post by paulie_a » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:31 AM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #73

wnevets wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but what if the alarm isn't working when something is wrong?

so same as train brakes in a way

Trains slow down and use the engine at a slower pace. You don't have a back up heart.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#88

Post by philliphaydon » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:33 AM UTC

I’ve been hospitalised 7 times. In New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and Singapore.

Aside from the first day/night after surgery, I’ve never felt like Hospitals are against slept?!?

My Wife had a c-section in October. Again, other than first day/night after surgery, never felt like we were interrupted all the time.

Is this article about America or something?

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#89

Post by nemesisj » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:36 AM UTC

This is a problem that a startup I’m involved with (www.snap40.com) is tangentially aiming to solve. The prime goal isn’t really to help patients sleep better, but to help healthcare professionals monitor them better and be proactively alerted when things are deteriorating. It’s an iPhone sized (but lighter) device that’s worn on the upper arm and once you’re wearing it, you forget about it. Instead of reading vital signs the patient can sleep, and we’ve caught instances where patients were in trouble before the normal rounds would have. Also applicable for home use as patients can be sent home earlier or safely monitored. It is up for approval by the FDA so it is a regulated medical device, and in most cases it does better than the gold standard ICU machines. Better sleep, more safety, and a faster return to home are just some of the benefits, and I’m really optimistic they can make a huge difference for healthcare.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#90

Post by slaymaker1907 » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:37 AM UTC

This article makes the problem of doctor/test scheduling sound way easier than it actually is. Optimally scheduling these tests when you have a few doctors and a few patients isn't that difficult, but it gets very tricky as you increase the numbers of both as well as the number of constraints on both patients and doctors.