Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Hospital Wards Should be Quiet at Night?

281 replies

GemmaWella81 · 16/04/2016 23:42

Third night into a stay at hospital and I feel like killing people. There's no urgency or care given to keeping the noise down, whether it's nurses talking amongst themselves, machines buzzing, or patients having zero concept of anyone but themselves.

I think there should be a reasonable expectation placed on staff to quash as much noise as possible, within reason as I appreciate a hospital is a working environment. By 4am and no more than 10 min unbroken sleep last night I was thermonuclear with rage, and to pass time began measured the average volume and it was around 55 Db peaking at 68! How is that good for patient health and recovery?

I swear id'd be out of here and recovering quicker if I was able to get some proper shut eye. I've had no choice to listen in on a patient arguing with a nurse about getting iv pain relief vs pill form a minute ago. Nurse was saying preference was a pill as it's cheaper but the patient was begging for iv. In the ensuing back and forth myself and people in beds near me were either woken up or were clearly getting agitated by it. There'll be a consequence now as most of us are in need of pain relief (surgical ward) at some point and that can momentarily knock you out...so when three people now ask for pain relief is it really cost effective then just giving the original patient iv pain relief in the first place?

It's been my first stay in hospital for a long time but I think I remember the ward nurses shussing the hell out of anyone talking or making undue noise. Now it just seems like a free for all and fuck everyone else's comfort.

Angry
OP posts:
HelHH · 18/04/2016 21:16

Sorry OP, meant to add, I hope you get better + home soon!

Original poster
GemmaWella81 · 18/04/2016 21:52

Thanks for the kind words everyone, hopefully another day or two to go x x

OP posts:
MumsTheWordYouKnow · 18/04/2016 22:39

I remember this as a child being in overnight. Even then I couldn't understand why it was so noisy and the nurses didn't seem to care about keeping the noise down as they had to work or making people them the TV off it was like a nightmare, I was quite young and was mixed in with older people who stayed up much later.

MumsTheWordYouKnow · 18/04/2016 22:40

And yes OP, I sympathise, hope you're out soon. So horrible not getting sleep at the best of times, let alone the worst of times.

springydaffs · 19/04/2016 10:52

Wow, upsetting thread. It has given me courage about pressing on with my contact with pals re my recent hospital experiences.

Op, hope you've managed to get some ear plugs and eye thing (can't think of the word!). Hope you get out soon and best wishes for your speedy recovery Flowers

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 19/04/2016 10:57

expat, I know of your loss. and I very often think of you and other bereaved parents. especially recently XXX

ironically in ICU, the death was more upsetting for the other visitors and the patients were so ill. ideally they should have been in a hospice but the hospice was full!

we had clearly had excellent staff in ICU, as they were quiet and discrete at night . I am very grateful , and in my bereaved state I cant actually contemplate how awful it might be for others- I cant go there...

get better OP

ConfuciousSayWhat · 19/04/2016 11:47

I've been stewing on this thread and a particular admission for status migraines (unbreakable migraine) it has got me so anxious about it happening again Sad I think I will be drawing up a care plan for dh to insist I'm not put on a ward again should it occur in the future. Excruciating doesn't come close

Potatoface2 · 20/04/2016 10:54

Im staying with a relative at a hospice at the moment....it is noisy...i dont care....there are very sick people here....they cant help the noises they make....the staff are as quiet as they can be when caring for people here...bless them allSad

Janey50 · 22/04/2016 16:49

I have always been rather puzzled whenever I hear someone saying 'oh you're in the best place', in response to somebody being admitted to hospital. Really?! So the best place to be when you are ill and feeling awful is in a room with 7 other people, not being able to get any sleep because of the constant cacophony of 90 decibel snoring,nurses chatting and new patients being admitted.On the 4 occasions I have had to stay in hospital (2 routine planned admissions and 2 emergencies) I could not wait to get out and go home so I could get some decent,undisturbed sleep. On the one occasion I (politely) asked a nurse if they could keep the noise down a little,as it was 2am and I had been unable to sleep due to the night-staff talking and laughing loudly,I was told 'This isn't a hotel you know'. Shock

Lemonblast · 22/04/2016 16:59

I may have missed this if someone else has mentioned it in the thread but the slamming bin lids? It's because they have to be operated with foot pedals to minimise hand contamination. Shit design, shit noise but one of the things that are a huge irritation but have a logical reason for their use.

Sirzy · 22/04/2016 17:21

Whenever Ds has been in the nurses have been very good at being quiet doing obs, by the 3rd night I can normally sleep through a couple of rounds of them. However, there isn't much that can be done about machines bleeping, that's par for the course. Last stay we had trouble with a IV line around 2am so I am sure the bleeping on the machine woke a few unfortunately. Somehow Ds who never sleeps managed to sleep through it though!

MiaowTheCat · 22/04/2016 18:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DerelictDaughter · 22/04/2016 19:04

For me, it's the patients: the staff are largely great. But the patients, I want to scream at them.
You're in hospital where people are ill, have some bloody thought for the fact that they don't want to hear a stranger wittering on at the top of their voice about God knows what.
Especially in the middle of the night Hmm

GraysAnalogy · 22/04/2016 19:40

I'm a HCP and didn't realise just how bad it was from a patient point of view until I was in myself a few months back.

Jesus christ.

I didn't sleep at all. I had a lady with dementia who kept going through everyones things. I was the least sick of everyone so I was helping her and getting her back into bed. I ended up getting hit with a packet of baby wipes for my trouble. Another confused lady ripped her cannulas out so it's 4am and I'm stood there applying pressure getting covered in this ladies blood whilst there's no staff in sight and the buzzer has been going off for ages. End up stopping it finally and went to get someone only to be looked up and down by the sister that 'its my break find someone else'. That went down well as you can imagine.

Another lady screaming in pain, she didn't get a word of comfort just the curtains pulled around her so I sat with her for a bit hand holding and all that. Turns out a few of our drug boards had been lost so none of us were given pain relief - this wasn't communicated to us though, I only found out because I knew the doctor on call and asked what was going on.

There were a few more things so I ended up complaining to PALs. I will defend the NHS and its staff to the end but there was something very wrong with the culture of that ward.

ConfuciousSayWhat · 23/04/2016 10:20

The problem is nurses think they have this God like status and that actual nursing is beneath them. Or from the perspective of a frequent patient that's definitely how it feels

Mousefinkle · 23/04/2016 12:04

It's awful isn't it. I barely slept a wink when I was in for two nights after DS was born. when they told me I had to stay another night I almost cried. The buzzers, other babies crying, people talking on the phone, general rattling around. I was lucky enough when I was in with quinsy for a week to get my own room. There was a bed next to me but no one in it for the week. However the ward was exceptionally lairy and I was pretty frightened as a 16 year old on my own. Just a lot of older people shouting and banging in the night. I like the look of American hospitals. I don't know if they're genuinely that plush but they look amazing on TV.

TheCrumpettyTree · 23/04/2016 12:11

I'm a nurse and I've had relatives turn up with takeaways at 11pm before now. There is no consideration for anyone else with some people. I made them leave.

There isn't much we can do about some noise, sats monitors and pumps etc. They are set to alarm if things change and we need to know about it. I've been in as a parent with one of my children and it was very noisy.

Dollymixtureyumyum · 23/04/2016 13:08

I don't think all nurses have the god status but a few def think they deserve a medal and these in my view are the worst nurses. I have also met so wonderful caring nurses (a lot of these are men which is interesting)
I have been in hospital at lot over the years with kidney problems including four lots of surgery so I have had lots of experience. I had to hide a nurse "friend" on Facebook recently because every single day she would put up a "nurses are angels post" or "nurses are savours" post and then bask while a few friends would tell her how wonderful she is. Hmm

GraysAnalogy · 23/04/2016 13:28

The problem is nurses think they have this God like status and that actual nursing is beneath them

Very very few I've met have come across like that. I've worked in hospitals for years and been a patient more than a handful of times and that's the only bad experience I've had with nursing staff to be honest.

juneau · 23/04/2016 13:49

DS2 was in hospital for 12 days when he was 18-months-old and was quite seriously ill. I, of course, stayed with him and OMG it was such an awful experience I could barely talk about it afterwards.

Because he wasn't contagious we were in a room with four beds and it was like Piccadilly Circus. People coming and going at all hours of the night, buzzers going off, DC crying, parents talking and snoring and farting all night long, people eating smelly food, whole families barging into what was, in effect, a bedroom.

The first week I didn't sleep a wink and was utterly strung out with stress and exhaustion, but woe betide any parent in that state who complains. I got 'this isn't about you, your child is very sick and needs to be here'. It was horrendous. The second week I was so exhausted that mercifully I was able to sleep at least some of the time.

How anyone gets better in hospital is beyond me. Everyone should have a private room. Its positively Dickensian to have complete strangers of both sexes and all ages sharing rooms. If each bed was occupied that was eight people trying to sleep in one room, with nurses barging in and out all night talking, changing bedlinen, moving beds and medical equipment around, buzzers going off, etc. I'd have to be at death's door to ever tolerate that on my own account.

Quietattheback · 23/04/2016 13:56

Hope the OP is out and recouperating at home now.

During my stay they had positioned the pedal bin underneath the porcelain sink so every time they used it, it went kerchink-duff. One night when they had several poorly patients it must have startled me awake 5 or 6 times and I might have had to hide under the bedclothes and had a little cry.

I get that they have a job to do and it's not a hotel, I really do. But sleep deprivation is torturous and really exacerbated the chronic low mood of many of some of the patients on the Ward - I do think it should be a priority to keep unavoidable noise in check.

I agree with the male nursing staff being, on the whole, more sympathetic whilst also being very efficient (had some great female nurses too, but the bloody awful ones were also female). My opinion was by no means affected by the delightful Staff nurse Dave, who managed to charm the bay of moaning old harridans into swooning submission.

honkinghaddock · 23/04/2016 15:33

To those who have any knowledge or experience of this - Are adults with severe learning disabilities allowed to have someone stay with them on the ward? I can't see ds ever coping/being safe without someone with him all the time.

Dollymixtureyumyum · 23/04/2016 15:37

Ah we all need a Dave when we are in hospital. I had a very nice looking nurse called Mike once. He could take my obs anytime day or night Grin

GraysAnalogy · 23/04/2016 15:50

Are adults with severe learning disabilities allowed to have someone stay with them on the ward? I can't see ds ever coping/being safe without someone with him all the time

Usually depends on the ward but more than likely not. They can offer a 1-1 Care Assistant sometimes though.

CobblerBob · 23/04/2016 15:51

Depends on the hospital and how the wards are run. My son was in hospital for three weeks when he was six. I slept there too by his bed as he was extremely ill. The first hospital was fantastic and very quiet at night unless for a really good reason (the amazing GOSH.)

The second, local hospital was awful and aside from getting my son's medicine dose wrong (setting him back several days) and screwing up various other things, the noise at night in the children's ward was appalling - not from the sick children I hasten to add. After a week of it (complaining made it worse) I got my son discharged as the sleep deprivation was affecting him too. There was an issue as they didn't have the regular most senior member of staff at that time and there it really affected everything.

I made an official complaint, through the office of the then health secretary no less as I had recorded the noise (a friend worked for him.) He was appalled. That shut them up.

To go from exemplary care to substandard care was a real shock. I've had many dealings with other areas in the same hospital and it has been fine to brilliant.