Hospital Wards Should be Quiet at Night?

[GemmaWella81]

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.

Actually I have found that the food has got much much better. I remember 10 years ago sending my DP to the shops because the food was so bad. This year it was fine.

When dm was in and out of hospital, I got her a travel kit from boots with eye mask and earplugs in, saved her sanity.

Dp had to bring food in! I've got coeliacs disease but the staff didn't seem to know what it was! I didn't want to risk getting ill! Especially after a 36hr labour!

I ended up on a dementia ward when I was 16 as there was nowhere else to put me. A lady kept trying to get me through the curtain and I was only moved when she pulled my drip hard enough to break it. It was horrendous.

Least it was only 5 nights

I was in for 2 nights a couple of weeks ago with HG and was nearly hysterical with exhaustion by the time I was discharged. You have my sympathies- I hope you're out soon

I've just finished a month in a children's hospital with one of the kids.
The first ward we had a side room. There was 1 nurse on nights who would come into the room to do obs every 2 hours and let the door bang shut. I mean bang shut. Why not just close it quietly? She was on for two nights. The next night different nurse on, bangs the door. She returns with something a minute later and apologised for banging the door. Every time she was in after that she conscientiously closed the door quietly.

Next ward was a big open ward, old nightingale style. Yes, the binging and bonging of the machines is annoying, as is the constant waking for obs etc, the arrival of new patients overnight, but this is all essential. It's the constant loud nattering of the nurses that does my head it. Talking as loud as they like about their holiday or something at 4am. It just isn't acceptable!
And I'm a nurse, who worked plenty of nights. It drove me mad then too. I remember a patient coming out one night to tell a nurse and auxiliary off for yakking so loudly in the early hours. Bloody bravo!
The auxiliary was really annoyed, and kept saying to me "Are we not allowed to talk anymore?"
I tried to point out that she could whisper all she bloody liked, but she could not grasp the notion.

Haha I had to resort to a shot of oramorph to get some sleep when I was in 18 months ago!

We had an elderly lady with dementia on our ward who would sleep all day then wake up at 2-3am desperate to brush her teeth and get ready as she needed to take her kids to school and had to go shopping as she had guests for dinner and didn't know what she was going to feed them!

Sadly they didn't seem to know how to handle her - kept insisting she go back to bed and didn't need to brush her teeth, which actually caused more disruption than she did. I suspect if they'd helped her wash and do her teeth and sat with her for a bit she might have settled - there was nothing else going on at the time so I think time would have allowed.

Hope you're out and on the mend soon.

When I have been properly ill, I prefer being on an open ward. Staring at 4 walls in a private room when you are to ill to do anything, is horrible. And I think it is safer that people round about can see you.

My mum has dementia, and many other things wrong with her. On her numerous hospital admissions, I'm very sorry if she disturbs people, but she's terrified as she doesn't understand what people say, and can't express her own needs for anyone to comfort her. She'd much rather go straight to the geratology ward where they understand that she doesn't recognise drinks/food/hospital and are staffed to provide gentle words in an enviroment thats suitable. But sometimes that can't happen as she's too ill or unstable, so she inconveniences people by keeping them awake. Sorry about that.

First stay in post-natal for some unknown reason I had a private en-suite room next to the nurses station and was kept awake for four nights solid, crying babies and new admissions you understand but the staff yakking loudly all night about their bloody holidays and 'x in that side room who's struggling...' (thanks for that, as if I didn't feel bad enough already) was unforgivable.

Second DC I was in the main ward and far enough away from the nurses station to get a couple of hours shuteye in between baby wakings, much better.

Some visitors can be knobs though, poor girl opposite had been labouring for two days and her DP bought in their toddler to meet the new baby, then proceeded to torment tease the boy constantly until he was screaming the place down, which this man thought was hysterical; staff kept offering to take the boy to watch TV or something but this knobhead was having way too much fun! All the babies were howling by this point and the mothers not far behind. We had to put up with this for two hours.

Interesting that the hoards of nurses on MN aren't commenting on this thread

I'm also shocked at the amount of people who have heard staff talking about other patients! That's breaching confidentiality massively. I work in a care home and no way would we get away with that, nor would we try to! Completely unacceptable.

I wasn't aware that "chronically underfunded" NHS hospital new builds were producing wards of private rooms which are undoubtedly fewer beds per square foot of ward, more expensive and objectively, a luxury rather than necessary.

Very much like the 100% private American hospitals in set up.

But, when they finally succeed in destroying our NHS and everything is sold off to private contractors, private rooms in hospitals will ensure that it secures a slightly better price.

springydaffs - Maybe it will make some of them think about the noise they make.

I did get admitted into one ward in the middle of the night last year that was quiet and where nurses did talk quietly. There were even notices up asking people to keep the noise down during the night.

I really do not want private rooms. Private rooms were better when I was basically healthy and went in for elective surgery, but not when you are properly ill and in hospital a fair bit.

And I am happy with the food I now get in hospital. I was impressed as well that a HCA went round every day with an ipad and asked everyone what they wanted for tea and dinner. It meant she could help elderly and confused patients. Much better than the old form to complete. One thing with food to remember is that most people in hospital are elderly, and they are the ones most at risk of malnutrition. So the choices do have to reflect elderly peoples needs more than younger peoples.

Hospital would be a great place if it wasn't for all those nurses and doctors, and omg, the sick people with those damn life saving machines...

I feel your pain...

THE INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLES!!.,

CMOT I've read the whole thread and I can't find a single post blaming people with dementia for their behaviour. Hospital care for people with dementia on top of other illnesses is often shit - as you know - as I know: when my dad was being treated for lung cancer he more than once escaped the ward and got as far as the bus stop before anyone realised he was missing - but it impacts both the dementia sufferers themselves and the people who are being treated next to them.

I've had to have lots of stays in hospital over the last few years. Yes, it's noisy at night, because seriously ill people who need round the clock care don't stop needing it at night.
After my mastectomy, my skin graft had to be checked every 10 minutes & the paperwork updating accordingly.
I developed a haematoma which needed measuring every 15 minutes. This was at 2am. My blood pressure dropped, they had to remove the morphine. My temperature shot up & I had to have a fan on me.
I'm sure that I was a joy to be near, but to get the care I needed, I had to be in hospital.
So I'm sorry if people like me have disturbed your sleep, it was unintentional. I'm sure that the incontinent patient with dementia would rather not have been in that situation either.
The medical staff do a wonderful job, with reduced funding, whilst being criticised all the time. I'm glad that they were there for me & made a noise to get a consultant down, at 2am, for me.

I don't understand why hospitals in the UK continue to use wards when pretty much everywhere else with a civilised healthcare system has private rooms or, at worst, two sharing.

It's obvious that it's impossible to keep noise down in many ward environments, especially where a high proportion of patients are elderly/confused, or require frequent care during the night.

Can't be good for patients if they are not able to rest, and surely having patients crammed together in wards makes it harder to control infection too.

If you have single rooms, you need a lot more staff to make sure patients are safe. And if you are in hospital frequently, a single room can be pretty lonely.

'I suspect if they'd helped her wash and do her teeth and sat with her for a bit she might have settled - there was nothing else going on at the time so I think time would have allowed.'

There is ALWAYS something going on and if they'd got her ready for the day her next move would have been to head for the door.......

Im an auxiliary and only work nights. Unfortunately hourly obs or beeping machines cant be avoided. We too hate the iv machines because the slightest movement sets them off and then they alarm warning you it will end soon then alarm when done. I can now distinguish between all the alarms but if your in the bay farthest away from the nurses station we can't hear them so sorry for that.

We also hate middle of the night bed moves. Incoming patients cant be avoided but having to moving sleeping patients to other wards or new bed spaces is wrong imo in the middle of the night but site management have their reasons.

As much as you may say just wash the dementia patient if thats what they want ita not that easy. My ward has 24 patients and on a night we only have 2/3 nurses and 2 auxiliaries and thats if no one gets moved. That means the auxiliary has 12 patients to see to and so can the nurses as our third nurse is for seriously unwell patients who need one to one care. We just dont have the time to spend n extensive time with one patient as it is detrimental to all the other patients. Moving a confused patient to the nurses station can make a bay quieter but wont help the confused patient and can make them worse as the nurses station is busy.

As for us staff. Yes we talk and try to as quietly as possible. Sometimes you need to shout across the ward if there is a situation and this cant be helped. We dont have a staff room for general chit chat as we would be off the ward. Sometimes we dont get a proper break. We can be exhausted from having to constantly get up and yes we may leave a bell ringing for a long period of time if we are busy with other things. We try to be as quiet as possible but you are in a hospital it wont be quiet.

Also some people need to realise that we are a hospital and not a hotel. We cannot provide food every hour over night. We cant go to the shop for you. We dont have brand items. The food is crap. We cant always get to you in 30 seconds. And we will always chose the distressed and seriously ill patient over making a cup of tea.

The nhs is getting worse. We are understaffed, underpaid and under valued and it is only going to get worse. I dont want to see a privatised health care system but at least we would be fully staffed and better paid and then patients could get as close to one to one care as possible.

As for everyone should have private rooms this isnt as great as it sounds. People support each other in bays. Ive noticed when we move people to private rooms from bays their mood drops. Most people enjoy the company.
We are a specialist ward and have lots of intense surgery such as tracheostomy and laryngectomy procedures. Being in a bay with others going through similar life changing things can be helpful.

A private system will cost a LOT more money. We would be better just funding the NHS properly.
I have found NHS staff, I suppose like anywhere, to be variable. When I was admitted to an assessment ward in A&E because I had to have tests and obs, the admitting nurse was brilliant and made sure I had everything I needed. My DP stayed with me and it was my DP who went to the nurses to remind them I needed a timed follow on test. They had no record I needed that, but did it. If my DP had not been there, I would have to have stayed in for an extra 10 hours as the blood test needed to happen so many hours after another test.
Who is the nurse in charge seems to make a big difference. You can have one team working very professionally, then with a shift change, the same patients, the standard of care goes down. I suppose part of the problem is the staffing shortage.