Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

motherjones.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 528 posts

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#91

Post by perlgeek »

rifung wrote: post #49
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.

That was my first thought too. However, the downside of that solution is that the failure signal relies on correctness of the machine. In the current system, the failure signal is guaranteed to occur during failure with a zero false negative rate.

Monitoring over the network exists, and should be the preferred way to detect failure.

> In the current system, the failure signal is guaranteed to occur during failure with a zero false negative rate.

I can easily imagine software bugs that make the machine continue beeping even if the normal function doesn't work anymore.

Somehow, this sounds like an excuse for lazy design.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#92

Post by dijit »

philliphaydon wrote: post #88

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?

Agree. I’ve been overnight hospitalised in Estonia, Sweden and the UK- and I feel like every measure is taken to avoid disturbing sleep.

Even heart rate monitor alarms are turned off/down locally;

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#93

Post by cyberferret »

I spent a night in hospital this year - My first ever hospital visit in 52 years on this planet!

I do agree with the OP. The thing that mystified me was that I was told I had to rest while under observation (for a non _too_ serious condition), but my night there was anything but restful.

I get that the nurses had to come around every 4 hours to change my antibiotic and saline IV drip, and to give me painkillers - but outside of that the constant beeping and general noise and chatter of the medical staff was incessant. IV drip controllers were left in 'alarm' state for 15 minutes at a time so I could hear constant loud beeps that are purely intended to get attention.

To top it off, the night staff forgot to turn off the main lights in the ward, and it wasn't until 4am that I heard someone say "Oops, we forgot to turn off the lights!" and they did so, making the ward finally dark enough to sleep.

Generally, the care I received was great, but I was mystified at how hard it was to actually get some basic sleep, which I consider vital for recovery, under those conditions.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#94

Post by rb666 »

cyberferret wrote: post #93

I spent a night in hospital this year - My first ever hospital visit in 52 years on this planet! I do agree with the OP. The thing that mystified me was that I was told I had to rest while under observation (for a non _too_ serious condition), but my night there was anything but restful. I get that the nurses had to come around every 4 hours to change my antibiotic and saline IV drip, and to give me painkillers - but…

Did you try earplugs and an earmask? They work wonders on (especially) daytime flights for me.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#95

Post by roel_v »

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?

Not OP, but the same way you get anything 'management' done - get to know people, make them like you, understand procedures and incentives of everything and everybody involved, trust but verify, always be proactive and ahead of everything and everybody.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#96

Post by kiriakasis »

Zhenya wrote: post #37
yellowbuilding wrote: post #2

I 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”.

Can you please elaborate on "it's stupid...?"

I think the parent refer to its own solution as stupid "it is stupid that they would use a pill if possible"

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#97

Post by strken »

philliphaydon wrote: post #88

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?

It very much depends on what's wrong with you. I've been hospitalised multiple times. Most of the times were fine, but once was neurosurgery, and I'd be woken up at regular intervals throughout the night to answer "What's your name? Where are you? What year is it? How many fingers am I holding up?" At some point there must be a crossover between the risk of an undetected problem vs the risk inherent in lack of sleep.

Not to mention "PAGING RESPOND MET CALL CODE BLUE"[0] followed by a crash cart tearing off down the hallway at 4am, and of course once you've been in the hospital for a few days you know that "MET call" means someone is probably dying and "code blue" means it's from cardiopulmonary arrest, which doesn't really help soothe you back to sleep.

[0] the jargon is probably wrong

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#98

Post by roel_v »

grooling wrote: post #35

I've always slept very well in hospitals. Source: home, Brussels Belgium

But is that because there are just nog enough nurses to do the checking that would be medically beneficial, or because of deliberate choices/scheduling? (am Belgian, not always impressed with quality of healthcare)

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#99

Post by cyberferret »

rb666 wrote: post #94
cyberferret wrote: post #93

I spent a night in hospital this year - My first ever hospital visit in 52 years on this planet! I do agree with the OP. The thing that mystified me was that I was told I had to rest while under observation (for a non _too_ serious condition), but my night there was anything but restful. I get that the nurses had to come around every 4 hours to change my antibiotic and saline IV drip, and to give me painkillers - but…

Did you try earplugs and an earmask? They work wonders on (especially) daytime flights for me.

Being a hospital noob, I didn't even think of those (plus I was admitted via ER fairly suddenly and unexpectedly).

Next time I know I have to stay in hospital overnight I will (or get my wife to) pack those in my overnight kit.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#100

Post by andai »

dingaling wrote: post #85
sunkencity wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When would something illuminated blue? When it's both working smoothly and worthy of attention?
Post reply on HN