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I had an infuriating experience with a young child in the hospital, where routine checks were being performed at the worst possible times for his sleep cycles. Sleeping is so critical to healing. Could it be that hospitals are being counterproductive, sacrificing effectiveness for efficiency?
All they care about is the bottom line, which is money
My wife has been in the hospital regularly over the past 18 months probably 20 days total. This is a renowned research hospital with a gorgeous, vibrant facility and spacious rooms. They absolutely 100% ignore any semblance of a sleep cycle for their patients (as well as proper nutrition but that's for another day). Constant interruptions to check vitals, ask if we want to pick a meal, beeping infusion pumps, a whole…
My wife has been in the hospital regularly over the past 18 months probably 20 days total. This is a renowned research hospital with a gorgeous, vibrant facility and spacious rooms. They absolutely 100% ignore any semblance of a sleep cycle for their patients (as well as proper nutrition but that's for another day). Constant interruptions to check vitals, ask if we want to pick a meal, beeping infusion pumps, a whole…
I also had 32db NRR earplugs that I take with me everywhere (my hearing can be very sensitive), and I used those extensively.
I got lucky and I wasn’t in the hospital for long. Once I got home, I could sleep as much as I needed.
Food is another area of concern. You can starve during a hospital visit or end up broke buying supplemental calories in the shop.
Then there is the sheer difficulty of navigating the typical hospital if you are somewhat disabled or in agonising pain.
It is as if that every hospital operates at some subliminal level as a field hospital in some 19th century war. It is thoughtcrime to think of how the place is run is less than heroic. There is also triage so that people with serious problems get dealt with before those with minor ailments. Therefore it is fine to keep a lot of people waiting. Or is it?
In places that have a customer service ethos you don't keep people waiting. Apart from anything else it is just plain inefficient. The sleep thing is what I would consider inefficient. It is a given that at a typical hospital none of the patients are sleeping too well, if it is not disruption then it can be flimsy blankets. Sure any ward is not going to be your own bed, but we are way off any customer first thinking when it comes to this.
I have had discussions about this with plenty of people and the idea of customer service in healthcare is poo-pooed. Is there anywhere in the world where it has been given a try? Scandinavia? Or even Cuba? It is not rocket surgery giving the patients a good night's sleep and enjoyable food. In our private lives we recommend to others that have a big day ahead of them that they get a good night's sleep. Why does this go out the window in the world of healthcare, whether it be staff or patients?
I had an infuriating experience with a young child in the hospital, where routine checks were being performed at the worst possible times for his sleep cycles. Sleeping is so critical to healing. Could it be that hospitals are being counterproductive, sacrificing effectiveness for efficiency?
All they care about is the bottom line, which is money
Earlier quoted context omitted.
All they care about is the bottom line, which is money
Bullshit. If that were true, this behavior remains wouldn’t exist in public hospitals in countries with socialised health care. And yet it does
"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3.""
My wife has been in the hospital regularly over the past 18 months probably 20 days total. This is a renowned research hospital with a gorgeous, vibrant facility and spacious rooms. They absolutely 100% ignore any semblance of a sleep cycle for their patients (as well as proper nutrition but that's for another day). Constant interruptions to check vitals, ask if we want to pick a meal, beeping infusion pumps, a whole…
Related to this: I looked into trying to get real time sleep data found it surprisingly hard. Fitbit, for example, only makes sleep data available after sleeping is over and the device is synced to the cloud. If anyone has a good solution to this I'm all ears.
Hospitals are always understaffed. Doctors and nurses don't have the time to keep the sleeping schedule of all their patients into account. If you want that to change, I guess more investments in healthcare would be the way to go.
People die in hospitals every day. If you're woken up a bunch of times while recovering from something, count your blessings that you're well enough to be woken up in the first place.