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Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

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Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#421

Post by rhacker »

shados wrote: post #228

I'll push this one step further: why is our entire society built around the idea that sleep literally doesn't matter? - Elementary school starting so early all the kids are half asleep in class. - College + Sleep? Not gonna happen. - 24 hour construction in certain part of NYC, check! - Most cities quiet hours are very precisely 8 hours. Hope your days start at 6:30/7:00 and you're falling asleep precisely at 11pm, a…

Damn very nice summary. I do think the kids in school thing, however, is more of a symptom of our generation as parents- they love staying up late, thus keeping their kids up late. just sayin... that being said - NOT A PARENT!

When I've stayed over at friends house (who are parents) they have very strict go to bed times for their kids. THOSE darn crazy kids are up at 5 or 5:30 banging around the house full of energy.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#422

Post by mrunkel »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #171

I spent a week in a German hospital a few years back. One thing that struck me is that they offered sleeping pills to ensure patients got a good night of sleep. Worked for me. Also didn't notice too many interruptions at night. Another trend that I know of in the Netherlands (where I'm from) is that newly built hospitals have private rooms for all patients. These hospitals no longer have shared rooms by design. They…

All "public" insurers in Germany are private companies as well. They are all required to provide the same level of service and they all cost nearly the same.

There are separate private insurers that are cheaper when you're younger and more expensive as you age, but that's a parallel system and you must earn over 40k Euro/yr. to purchase that (or be a state employee for some weird reason).

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#423

Post by aviv »

Isn't it obvious? Sleep is when the body does most of its own healing and restorative functions. Hospitals make money when people are ill. Why would they want you getting better on your own when they have a host of treatments and medications they can sell you on?

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#424

Post by jmckib »

war1025 wrote: post #339
rasputin243 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like my experience growing up in a rural area. My high school was on the other side of our county, so I was the first person on the bus every morning, 60 minute ride each way.

Kind of off topic, but a fun story: Growing up, we were the last kids off our bus and the ride took an hour. The silly thing was, there was a different bus that drove past our literally five minutes after school got out. Eventually they figured it out and switched the route we were on, but by then we were old enough to not ride the bus most of the time.

For me it was often 90 minutes to get home, but about 30 minutes into the trip we would drive right by my house. Problem was, it was on the other side of the street, and they wouldn't let me cross. This was in middle school, on a street that I crossed by myself all the time.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#425

Post by jmckib »

mrhappyunhappy wrote: post #331
rasputin243 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like my experience growing up in a rural area. My high school was on the other side of our county, so I was the first person on the bus every morning, 60 minute ride each way.

While on subject of school buses, my driver would not let me cross the street on the way home, so even though I was the first stop, I’d have to wait until we looped all the way around to the end. My stepdad had to scream down their throats and they finally caved, I came home an hour earlier. Talk about the stupidity of that situation!

Just realized I wrote basically the same comment as you. I wish my stepdad had yelled at them! It didn't even occur to me that I could complain.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#426

Post by eecc »

dljsjr wrote: post #326
dahfizz wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does the school bus pick him up more than an hour before school starts? That seems ridiculous.

Small town America. The high school I attended in 9th grade was a 30 minute drive away if there was no traffic and first bell was at 7:00 AM. It also served 2-3 small towns in the area. I took the bus before I could drive, and my bus stop was one of the first on the route that had to pick up kids from all over the place because we didn't have a lot of busses. So in order to get me to school on time for 7:00 AM, I got…

Jeez... couldn’t they spend a couple bucks more for extra service?

Now that’s in essence the whole problem with tax cuts and privatizations: public service is cut to the bone, and privatized ones maximize their profits together with the citizenry’s inconvenience.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#427

Post by moneil971 »

cortesoft wrote: post #379
shados wrote: post #228

I'll push this one step further: why is our entire society built around the idea that sleep literally doesn't matter? - Elementary school starting so early all the kids are half asleep in class. - College + Sleep? Not gonna happen. - 24 hour construction in certain part of NYC, check! - Most cities quiet hours are very precisely 8 hours. Hope your days start at 6:30/7:00 and you're falling asleep precisely at 11pm, a…

> College + Sleep? Not gonna happen. Wait, what? I slept so much in college. Way more than at any other point in my life. You schedule your own classes and aren't actually in class that much, gives you plenty of time to sleep.

I worked 3 jobs, was on the newspaper, ran track, and took a full course load on top of commuting home when I could -- I probably slept more than I do now but it was def not enough!

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#428

Post by Gatsky »

random878 wrote: post #288

As someone on HN who is medical, not tech, this thread is as frustrating to read as it would be for many of you to read doctor's opinions on how best to run a software engineering firm. "I'm not a software engineer, but here's my full breakdown on where you are all going wrong based on using a BBC Micro for a week back in 1993"

Totally, totally agree. The threads on healthcare are the second lowest quality content on HN (after cryptocurrency). Maybe this is because HN readers are pissed off by the healthcare system. Guess what, so are the people that work there.

Eg. Sleep in hospitals. Everybody including the patient, nurses, doctors and the janitor knows it is hard to sleep in hospital. I'm regularly told by the patient, the patient's family, the nurses, the music therapist etc that the patient can't sleep. Believe or not, my response is not 'Well I didn't get much sleep last night either' or other such nonsense. The team tries to do what they can, eg stopping IV fluids overnight, or reducing unnecessary observations, or giving a sleeping pill, or moving disruptive patients into their own room, or best of all just trying to get the patient out of hospital as soon as possible. But that doesn't make much of a news piece, people just trying to do what they can for the patient.

Instead one problem with inpatient care is singled out in a way that is designed to foment outrage, and everyone piles on with their individual poor-sleep-in-hospital experience.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#429

Post by vkou »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #408
topkai22 wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually did the math on this in my district. Based on the cost data they published, it costs (roughly) $1.5-2/ride on our school bus system. Allowing 20 minutes for pick up and drop off, no current ride-sharing system I know about would be cost competitive, but its a relatively close thing. RE carpooling, this probably cost competitive but their are other factors that make this harder than you think. Buses are all…

> Buses are allowed exemptions to booster seat rules, minivans aren't Buses are allowed exemptions for pragmatic reasons, not safety reasons. Whatever the rule is, it should be the same for both, in which case there is no relative advantage. If you're not willing to allow it for a minivan, why are you willing to allow it for a bus? (This also doesn't apply to high school students who don't need them anyway.) > How do…

> Buses are allowed exemptions for pragmatic reasons, not safety reasons.

No, buses are safer, period, even without seatbelts. Occupants of bigger vehicles have much better outcomes in auto collisions, and buses are some of the biggest vehicles on the road.

Also, most school buses don't do much freeway driving... Not having a seatbelt in 25 mph collision is one thing. Not having a seatbelt in a 70 mph collision is lethal.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#430

Post by Gatsky »

billfruit wrote: post #293
random878 wrote: post #288

As someone on HN who is medical, not tech, this thread is as frustrating to read as it would be for many of you to read doctor's opinions on how best to run a software engineering firm. "I'm not a software engineer, but here's my full breakdown on where you are all going wrong based on using a BBC Micro for a week back in 1993"

But in your experience is there a problem with hospitals not understanding that patients need proper sleep?

I don't know how you can legitimately think this question is even worth asking? What do you think hospital staff do all day, deliberately try to ignore the obvious and torture the patient as much as possible?
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