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

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#451

Post by merpnderp » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:44 PM UTC

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…

This must differ wildly between hospitals. In Oklahoma City we were only bothered a few times a day and never at night during our 3 day stay with our newborn (plus the kitchen cooked us a 5 course gourmet meal to send of off on the last day). And I was often able to meet the nurse at the door and handle whatever they needed quietly without waking mom or child.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#452

Post by rco8786 » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:45 PM UTC

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?

Yep. We did. And then another group came by equally as loud. And then the shift changed. Equally as loud. I would have to stand outside the door shushing people all night to be effective. And then we’re the annoying patients nobody wants to deal with.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#453

Post by jriot » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:46 PM UTC

Former air traffic controller, my schedule for the last 5 years at a 24 hour facility.

Monday and Tuesday - 7am : 3pm Wednesday and Thursday - 3pm : 11pm Friday and Saturday - 11pm : 7am

48 hours off to start that again on Tuesday.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#454

Post by rco8786 » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:47 PM UTC

mcv wrote: post #151

chrisbennet wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That's why you've got a partner there with you. The partner's job is to keep an eye on whatever the young mother needs and make it happen.

Which I’m doing. But we’re unfortunately stuck here and I’m just 1 person against an entire fleet of nurses, who also happen to be the caregivers.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#455

Post by hshacker321 » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:52 PM UTC

zacharycohn wrote: post #446

bpyne wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife's background is in childhood development. Her job involves keeping up with studies in the field. I remember her talking about this issue. There's evidence that school start times should be flipped for elementary and high school students: elementary going in earlier and high school later. Teenagers need more sleep due to their brains re-wiring, so the reasoning goes. Keep in mind that in our school district, e…

I'm envious. My high school started at 7:17am. It was brutal.

I took zero hour PE to add in an extra class and mine started at 6:30 am

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#456

Post by DINKDINK » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 7:54 PM UTC

ddeck wrote: post #143

DINKDINK wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Copenhagen, Denmark, so the entire stay was ~~free~~ subsidized.

Is it free to walk down the sidewalk in your country? Under your definition it's not, since ultimately taxes likely paid for that sidewalk, but I think most people would describe it as free.

Subsidization is when the costs of a product or service are hidden from you (Universal healthcare, a supplier takes you out to lunch, an employer pays for a worker cafeteria)

Free is when there are no costs (watching a sunrise, receiving a hug)

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#457

Post by pulse7 » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 8:02 PM UTC

m_mueller wrote: post #101

pulse7 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be from Switzerland... :-)

bingo ;)

Don't many Swiss buildings have shared washing machines in the basement?

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#458

Post by wingworks » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 8:02 PM UTC

zacharycohn wrote: post #446

bpyne wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife's background is in childhood development. Her job involves keeping up with studies in the field. I remember her talking about this issue. There's evidence that school start times should be flipped for elementary and high school students: elementary going in earlier and high school later. Teenagers need more sleep due to their brains re-wiring, so the reasoning goes. Keep in mind that in our school district, e…

I'm envious. My high school started at 7:17am. It was brutal.

OMG! 7:17am, that's crazy. Mine started at 8:30am, it was ok most days, especially later years as I generally enjoyed going, depending on what class was first. But 9am would have been better. (as that's when primary school started for me), which suited me really well.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#459

Post by thymehog » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 8:15 PM UTC

I really like posts/articles like this that point out problems that need to be addressed, but they always seem to miss a reasonable call to action. In this case it mentions what the author did (refuse to let her sleep be interrupted and make a verbal agreement with those tending.)

But if that doesn't work? For instance, what do I do about the new nurse that doesn't want to upset the dr and insists on doing the 4am blood draw?

With hard facts about WHY the nurse doesn't need that 4am draw I could formulate an argument to convince the nurse to let me sleep instead. But outright refusing to let the nurse do their duties just feels... obnoxious.

Re: Why Do Hospitals Hate Sleep So Much?

#460

Post by uxp100 » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 8:16 PM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #406

uxp100 wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Doctors have a very strong labor union, which tends to advocate FOR this system. Probably even though the AMA represents residents, doctors who have succeeded in the residency system have more sway within it.

I'm in the US. After some searching, I can't find any information about most doctors having unions. I found one that appears to mostly work with California doctors, but that was about it. Either way, I was speaking about residents, who don't have particularly strong or ubiquitous unions. Again, that's in the US. Other countries may vary.

I was being tricky here but I mean the AMA.

It controls a great deal about doctor's education and working conditions. It does not collectively bargain, so it's not strictly a union. But it's more powerful than most unions at this point. So a glib, "maybe doctors should get a union to represent them" answer to poor working conditions for residents doesn't really make sense. They already have a powerful organization that should represent them.

I think that there is at least some group of physicians who really think that poor working conditions for residents improves patient outcomes and doctor training.