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.

Pineapple, I'm an RN on a resp ward: lots of trachy patients, NIV, optiflow and ITU step downs. It's a 30 room ward, NHS (not private). Each room is single bed with ensuite shower room. Damned hard work as you're literally like a tennis ball going from room to room, but it's do-able. As long as acuity/dependency isn't too crazily high and we have enough staff. Must admit, it can be a logistical nightmare at times, but it does work.
Pro's: privacy, own bathroom, people can eat/rest in relative peace, visiting hours are longer and family can stay later if the patient wants it.
Cons: isolation (of patients), you can't see all patients at a glance, if 2-3 staff are in one room, we can't answer the bell of another patient straight away (and people think we aren't around!!).

To the OP, and the many other who have had awful hospitals stays...I'm really sorry and sad to read your stories. It's awful not getting decent rest and recovery, and I know on our ward we like to keep things calm and orderly. Particularly at night. Please please do talk to the staff. I tell my patients that, to talk to me if there are any problems or concerns. I would far rather explain something or sort something promptly than have someone I'm caring for (and believe me, I do care) be upset or worried about something. If staff show bad attitude (luckily I've rarely seen this), I'd want to know about it, so that I can take appropriate actions. I'm sure most decent staff would say the same as me. All the v best X

Lougle i think 'noise vigilance' should be a Thing on wards, at night particularly. Not sure what to do about the shoes, or the bins with broken soft closures.

PS should have added that the entire hospital (NHS) is single bed rooms...and it's a huge hospital. Ortho, surgical, medical, resp, itu, ccu, HODU, ob/gynae, stroke, elderly, gastro etc etc etc, even A&E has single rooms...not sure what resus is like though, as I've never been in there!!!

I had an operation a couple of years ago and I too ear plugs and an eye mask in - slept really well. I did put a sign above my bed saying 'I have earplugs in' so the staff wouldn't panic if I didn't wake up when they spoke to me.

Not rtft

I was last in hospital in Germany.

Contrary to popular belief we are not the only country to have a state health system or one that's operating on a shoestring.

There was also on a tight budget but still spotlessly clean, run as hospitals here used to be (I'm also an ex HCP myself), and quiet times are enforced both mid afternoon and night time and are recognised as essential for healing. As it should be.

Strict visiting hours and good nutrition also helped. These things may be more expensive short term but surely long term save money as patients would leave earlier and healthier!

'Private rooms are not safe for ill patients.'

But other people are here demonstrating that they are.

I've only been in hospital for having babies but I would have hated being in a private room as I would have felt isolated. You really can't please everyone.

I also have concerns about traches in single rooms, where I work we have had patients in side rooms pull them out accidentally, patients who cannot use call bells pulling at them unless watched even with mittens on to prevent that, patients who cannot use call bells pulling off high flow oxygen and being found in the nick of time. With 2 nurses and 2 HCAs at night also having to watch patients at high risk of falls who wander or try to climb out of bed the risks are very great.

I know you shouldn't compare, and the NHS is ok, but having lived and been in hospital in both Germany and Switzerland I was shocked when I visited fil for the first time in hospital. I actually had to go and sit in the car and have a good cry. The ward he was in was so big, loud, hot and dirty, I couldn't believe it.

With all due respect to anybody who works for the NHS, it is so obviously underfunded and badly run, no first world country's healthcare should be like this!

Clealty I have a chronic health conditions I have spent enough time in hospital. I didn't say if you were well enough you could go to the day room. I said that was the thinking when our local single room hospital was designed- not that I agreed.

Britain spends way less on healthcare than Germany or Switzerland. Good care costs.

Wow....people complaining about....dementia patients....unwell patients needing oxygen....patients relatives....patients using their phones in the middle of the night...shouty sweary patients smelling of fags and patients with behavioural problems....well guess what hospitals are not picky about who gets a bed....and the nurses are not there to police the wards telling patients what they can or cant do.....on a night duty i have enough to do let alone telling patients they cant leave the ward to smoke or cant use their mobile phones....i do draw the line at violent boyfriends who turn up ....and get security to remove them...whilst at the same time being verbally abused by the girlfriend who was being treated badly....great fun being a nurse.....not many people get swore at and whacked with a walking stick for trying to help someone!

This has made me remember one night shift I was unfortunate enough to experience. My patient (in a 4 bedded bay) had a cardiac arrest. We performed cpr, the crash team attended but unfortunately the gentleman died. Obviously this was a very noisy situation. We called his family in who were obviously distraught as it was an unexpected death and they wanted to spend time with their deceased relative. We had 2 complaints to pals over this, because 2 other patients in the bay had had a disturbed night
I used to love it when the patients told me in the morning that they hadn't "had a wink of sleep". Yes you have love, I've been checking on you every 15 minutes and believe me, you haven't stopped snoring

The more this thread goes on the more I am convinced of my idea from earlier in the thread could work. Employ carers on wards to do the non medical side of caring. To look after the dementia patients.

Use the gadgets like my grandad has, no button pushing required

The NHS is so backward it's laughable

ConfuciousSayWhat thats how the NHS was under Labour, but the Tories decided it was too expensive.

When DS was on the childrens ward there were all kinds of staff. Some helped with things like bedpans.

'and the nurses are not there to police the wards telling patients what they can or cant do.....on a night duty i have enough to do let alone telling patients they cant leave the ward to smoke or cant use their mobile phones...'

Then who is? Other patients?

That is what 1:1 HCAs are for Confucious however, due to staffing issues on acute wards often there may not be enough staff available so we have to look after 12 patients and the confused dementia patients. Not ideal for anyone.

Oh this makes me so glad that hospital wards here are usually two or three bedroom rooms, four at the most. Having a room to myself was always nice but sharing a room gives that added safety as once I had a horrible attack of pain and the other patient and his wife called the nurse for me as I couldn't even get to the call button.

Ive had three hospital stays with my 3DCs - each time recovering from either C-section or a tear requiring surgery so was in for a fair few days. Every time, I've ended up in a bay next to someone who thinks its ok to talk loudly on their mobile phone throughout the 'rest period' and into the early hours of the morning. One lady had the ingenious idea of putting her mobile phone inside her headscarf so she could change the baby and feed it, whilst never having to end her conversation or even pause for breath.Her entire family of about 5 stayed for the whole rest period chatting away as loudly as can be, the midwife asked them to leave 3 times but they just ignored her. So frustrating.

We are suppose to have 1-1 auxiliaries for severe dementia patients but there usually isnt the staff to cover it so we have to work with what we've got and it just isnt enough.

I too have had a respiratory arrest on my ward and we had to turn the lights on at 3am there was lots of noise and lots of people. Luckily the rest of the patients were understanding and more concerned for the patient then their lack of sleep.

We try and police where we can but we dont have the time sometimes and it can be hard. We cant make everyone happy.

It's not a prison, expat. If I'm behind the curtains cleaning up after a doubly incontinent patient or in the drug room drawing up a syringe driver for a terminally ill patient (which takes 2 nurses to check controlled drugs) and another patient chooses to go out for a fag or use a mobile phone, there's not really a lot I can do about it. It's lack of staffing that's the problem.

I agree punk we dont have enough staff and there is no way to keep everyone happy and some things are more important than dealing with noise problems or people talking or tvs. we have to prioritise and some things just take precedent

there have been health care assistants/clinical support workers around for a long time confucious.

Confuscious the auxiliaries and hca do the non medical side of caring. We wash patienta, help with toiletibg, eating, we hold hands and comfort people, we spend all day following the dementia patients round whilst taking abuse and being called names, we get swore at, people try to assault us, we help those up who fall, clean up incontinence, make sure you get a cup of tea and food when you need it, we comfort relatives and entertain children, we care for your loved ones when they are alive and treat a body with respect and care when they die. We are here and you dont need to employ anyone else just staff the hospital appropriately.

All the single rooms bar 3 are fully visible from the station and 1 has full video monitoring for safety.

With a set up like this I can see more how having trache patients in side rooms could work. Unfortunately where I work (which is a very large teaching hospital) we do not have this and therefore it's not safe.

But anyway, the way things are going we won't have an NHS much longer and we will all be in private rooms paid for by our expensive insurance!