Hospital bed curtains

[CurtainsAllowed]

Is it frowned upon to keep them shut?

Just had surgery, was in a LOT of pain (thankfully being managed now) and I am constantly being asked if I want my curtains around my bed opened.

I feel and look horrendous and am absolutely not ready to be having a chat with anyone else on the ward.
I just want to be left alone

expat

Huh? Are we all talking about the same thing? Because I've worked in 20+ hospitals in the past year and they've all had the same back-opening gowns that do indeed gape if not tied properly.

They still had them when I had surgery in January, but they gave me nice paper knickers to wear to protect my modesty. And elastic stockings, and a pair of slipper socks to wear while I was waiting to go to theatre. I looked fabulous ... fabulously frightful.

This was day surgery, and I really questioned if the stockings were necessary when I was only lying down for a couple of hours.

And Freaklikemee just in case you think I am being goady in return; I am genuinely sorry if you or a close family member have experienced loss of dignity owing to a serious illness. That is truly awful.

However, surely you can see that that doesn't negate the necessity for patients to have privacy and security in which to recover and be afforded as much dignity as possible by staff?

It is possible to hold a different and legitimate viewpoint to your own on this point.

They still have them here, I looked frightful and stank wearing the same one for three days last week.

Disease will take your dignity and privacy away and you have no say in it. I hope you never have to experience that.

so why would you want to make it even worst Freaklikemee and give the final blow by denying patient feelings and their human need for respect, dignity and privacy?

Some procedures feel horrendously embarrassing, for some people it's worst than the actual pain. You still expect the medical staff to show respect and compassion, and they usually do.

The very bare minimum the hospital has to provide is privacy and respect for people. In extreme emergencies, it's not always possible to give as much privacy as possible, but on a ward there's no valid reason whatsoever.

Where is the hospital that is allowing neutropaenic children with cancer to be in ward settings? That's really serious and needs to be reported.

Great North Children's Hospital in Newcastle.

My son doesn't have cancer, he has VS Aplastic Anaemia. In the oncology ward he would only be placed in isolation if he had an infectious illness or was in the 3 week period after a chicken pox contact. For his random temperature spikes with no discernible cause he's placed in the bed bay while waiting for his antibiotic course to complete.

The children who've had a stem cell transplant are treated differently, they're always barriered on admission, and on the day unit they go in the cubicles rather than the waiting area.

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter. That's a dark path to have to walk down.

They can and do come to cubicles. If the child is in strict iso, then they can't go out. But they don't miss out if they are in side rooms. Even in strict iso, the clown doctors came to the second door in her double-roomed door, to perform for her. When she was well enough she was allowed to go the playroom, out for arts and crafts, to the Medicinema.

Yes that's true. We've got Radio Lollipop who also come round to spend time with the kids. It seems more fun when there are a few kids around and they're all involved in an activity. My son definitely gets more out of it. He's not able to attend school so it's often his only chance to play with kids around his own age.

It's entirely up to you. When I was in a few years ago, I kept mine shut the majority of the time, when the nurse opened them, I just asked them to close them. I did mix, but if I was feeling low or just wanted alone time, I pulled them. Hope you feel better soon...

My mother was in hospital last week for a couple of day, she was stuck in a corner next to a woman who kept her curtains shut the whole time which was horrible for my mother who had no window, no through draft, no fan and was very dark and stuffy!! Not very nice at all!! Though I feel for you, it turns out she was pretending she was to Poorly to eat to the nurses and then scoffing her face behind her curtains lol

I'm with you all the way. I find the idea of being on a public ward with other people while suffering and in pain absolutely horrendous. I do not want to see them or interact with them in any way. I'm due in hospital soon and my curtains will be firmly shut. I wish single rooms were standard. Loathe anything 'communal'. Horrid horrid horrid. Other people are hell in situations like that.

Trying
I'm not even sure where to start with your post.
The woman wanted her curtain shut which she's allowed to do.
Then you talk about her eating habits which you shouldn't know anything about, but you do as curtains arent sound proof.
You end your post with lol.
Do you really laugh out loud at other people in hospital?

My DF was in and out of hospital for a years, he was very very ill. Admittance was weeks/months at a time usually and because of the type of illness and the fact that his immune system was severely compromised he was nearly always placed in a private room. Mentally the isolation in this scenario is hard, he really really struggled. He enjoyed getting onto a ward just to occasionally have some society.

I totally understand that you’re hating the open ward, and being ill and in pain is awful. BUT I really think there is a place for both depending on the needs of a patient. Incidentally all of the rooms, over three different hospitals in different cities had observation windows in the walls. So possibly not the total privacy you’re imagining.

To compare private hospitals with NHS hospitals is being highly unfair. I’m not a HCP but find the unfavourable comparison really offensive. NHS drs and nurses are not dealing with the same resources as private institutions, and if you expect the care to be like that well get private healthcare and secure the privacy you crave. Yes some hospitals could do a lot more and the NHS is far from perfect but it’s like comparing a bus with having a chauffeur...you’ll get to the destination but the experience will be different...

When I has my daughter in hospital almost 7 months ago I was in for 8 days and always had my curtain shut, 24/7! I was never asked to open it, I wanted my privacy!!

Shut the curtains if you want. I would.
It's just a pity that you can't also shut a door and get some peace and quiet, especially at night so that you can get some sleep.
NHS facilities are limited and unhelpful in this regard in that the lack of privacy, and quiet at night, etc can really hamper your recovery.
Probably the answer is to get discharged and get home as soon as possible if you have support there, or to a private convelescent place if you can afford it.
I have to regard NHS care as inadequate in some respects, such as this.
But I don't disrespect some other aspects of the NHS, which are offering world class care.

After DS2 was born, I had curtains closed for the first day and I didn't get any cups of tea as she thought I didn't want to be disturbed. So I had them open on the next day.

When my Mum was in hospital, she made a close friendship with a lady in the next bed. They had the same illness and found this helpful as non of their friends were going through the same thing.

And private hospitals in the UK do not deal with the large amount of elderly and very ill patients that the NHS hospitals do.

I hate communal wards; and I’m a normally chatty person! I was on a mixed bay for over a week in 2015. Thankfully all the patients were pleasant enough; but the elderly man across the bed from

... me had dementia and would wander around confused at night in a state of undress (I was more concerned for his dignity than mine!). Post natal Ward was even worse. Bloody midwives just sweep curtain open no matter what you’Re doing (changing pad, trying to establish breastfeeding, getting catheter removed), and no matter who is about (other patients, their partners, their random visitors). Thankfully there was no one too unpleasant around when I was there but I can imagine that in many circumstances this could be horrendous. I honestly think some HCPs think that they are “superior” to patients and that patients are not entitled to dignity; particularly in the pre and post natal wards

I was in a 4 bedder when I had a big operation. It was comforting to have the other women there. We were lucky though in that visiting was restricted so there wasn't any intrusion.
I can see both sides of this . It is lonely in single rooms and one can feel a bit sorry for oneself. I have had this myself and as a parent when my baby had numerous admissions. My poor old dad became demented and found being alone in a room( our DGH is now single room only; it is better for infection control)very disorientating, frightening and understimulating. I didn't think it was safe for him, no one would have known if he had fallen out of bed or needed the loo or whatever.
Suggesting opening curtains is for the convenience of staff is skewing the truth.the staff can give better care and more attention to you if they can see you. In private hospitals on the whole patients are not as ill and the staffing levels are higher. It doesn't mean the patients are 'better' looked after, usually patients will be moved to NHS if they need specialised care and this is specialised nursing as well as medical. There are a few honourable and expensive exceptions to this.

I was in a plastic surgery ward after a dog bite, on iv antibiotics. The girl opposite me had her curtains closed all the time, late that night there was a lot of noise. It turned out she had been found unresponsive after injecting drugs into the port on her arm. Staff found the syringe on the floor. I guess she wouldn’t have been able to do it if her curtains were open all the time!

The move to only side rooms worries me i was in a side room after a leg amputation the nurses where too busy I called them as my nerve block failed. I got told they would get me some pain relief and then got waylaid with someone else forgetting me. This then meant i ended up screaming down the ward as phantom pains, wound pains and spasms all crashed at once. At one point the nurse closed my door so I didn't upset other patients this lasted for 4 hours as by that stage they had missed the pain relief window it then happened again the following day. I'm having mh issues now because of this.

I agree curtains should be pulled if you want privacy to rest it's gonna take a nurse 2 seconds to peek their head round the door. Recovery surely is helped by decent rest too.

Just keep repeating that you would like your curtains closed. You will get varying responses but hopefully some nursing/therapy staff will act on your preferences. On the wards I work on the catering staff give out cups of tea etc regardless even if the patient is getting washed/using commode etc, but I’m in Yorkshire and this may differ in other places! Also; ask visitors to bring ear plugs if able/tolerated by yourself. Don’t worry about any noises you have previously made. Patients move about all the time and if people were around when you were crying out - fuck ‘em. People get poorly and they hurt sometimes. You don’t have to see those people again. Hope you get some rest.

Am late to this thread but am appalled at the attitude of freek - if you're worried about dignity you're lucky you're not too ill Am lucky in that I've only ever been in hospital overnight once (after giving birth and miraculously -without asking - I was in a private room). But have had family members in hospital both on ward and in side/private rooms and I didn't really notice a difference in general observation (as opposed to formal obvs taking) when family member was in side room - so am not sure I understand the idea that observations can be done so easily/quickly by glancing up and down a ward versus the apparently extra time needed to pop your head round a curtain/door.

If the idea behind wards/open curtains is that it improves observations isn't that actually putting part of the job of observing onto other patients?

Actually the NHS is saying - you're a community of co-patients and co-observers. We don't have the money/inclination to fund enough nursing staff to do the job so we rely on open access so that you patients look out for each other and be our eyes and ears when we are elsewhere..

Is that what we really want?

On the wards I work on the catering staff give out cups of tea etc regardless even if the patient is getting washed/using commode etc, but I’m in Yorkshire and this may differ in other places!

Crikey Distractotron I hope that is not standard practice

myrtleWilson

If the idea behind wards/open curtains is that it improves observations isn't that actually putting part of the job of observing onto other patients?

Actually the NHS is saying - you're a community of co-patients and co-observers. We don't have the money/inclination to fund enough nursing staff to do the job so we rely on open access so that you patients look out for each other and be our eyes and ears when we are elsewhere.

Call me cynical, but I think you have hit the nail on the head there!

My late father was totally "all there" mentally despite being very frail physically. In his late 80s he found himself on a ward where many of the patients sadly had dementia. He actually stopped a patient opposite him receiving the wrong medication from a doctor, because the temporarily empty bed had been occupied by a wandering dementia patient!

Is that what we really want?

No, I really don't think we do...