To think night staff could be a bit quieter

[Mammyloveswine]

I'm currently in hospital and am really very poorly... not helping is the complete lack of sleep due to how fucking noisy it is on a night!

I get nurses need to take obs etc through the night which is disruptive but omg they come bounding in, loudly asking my date of birth yet again and taking my blood pressure, faffing with thermometers etc!

New patient has just been brought in, the porters banged the bloody doors open, loudly chatting away whilst wheeling the bed in... nurse now in with patient and they are loudly laughing about some joke the patient made about how she got her injury.

5am the other morning the night staff all stood right outside our ward having a full briefing in loud daytime voices.. there's no whispering, no attempt at all to be quiet!!

I had to actually ask the nurse the otter night at 10:30pm if they were going to dim the bright fluorescent lights.. she laughed and said "eeeh I forget it's nighttime!".

This is a semi lighthearted rant because I am knackered and poorly and I have had wonderful care since being in.. but omg please just let me sleep a bit overnight!!

Yep! I was in hospital for a week recovering from an operation and I remember being woken up in the night to have obs done. And an injection before sleep each night? Except that was done at 11pm so I was often already asleep by then! So they’d wake me up to stick me with a needle. They also took blood from me during the night. Towards the end I started refusing as I felt like a human pin cushion. I was so exhausted!
Same when I gave birth and was recovering from a c section. To be fair, I was awake half the night with the baby but for the rest of it whilst he was asleep, it was so noisy!

I have to agree, think the staff do a wonderful job, but they don't exactly make it any easier to sleep on a ward. Sadly the other patients doing stuff they shouldn't be, like trying to remove their monitoring equipment for a fag or similar doesn't help.

Only been admitted a couple of times but never got a wink of sleep either time and the wondered why I was always tetchily asking when I could be discharged. The last time I was on a general ward and there was a woman who was constantly shouting abuse at staff and anyone who caught her eye - absolutely awful.

Wireless headphones and https://mynoise.net/

I wasn't in hospital but I think this saved my life during lockdown with noisy neighbours. I think it saved the neighbours' lives, too...

Wonderful array of natural white noises that you can play for free, and alter to your heart's content, to fine tune every one to the precise levels you need. Oddly, thunderstorms and cafes can be very relaxing.

I hope you feel better soon.

YANBU OP. Despite the restorative power of a good night's sleep, the night staff seem to have their own theories. 3 nights on a postnatal ward (bay closest the door) after surgery and haemorrhage. I nearly lost my mind.

Feel a bit emotional reading all of these replies... it's such a horrible, vulnerable feeling as it is! Hoping the same doctor is on today who I saw yesterday as she was brilliant and actually recognised how ill I am.

I keep getting asked "how's your pain?" And when I reply "a consistent 7 but when I try and move its easily an 8/9"... NOTHING happens! One nurse laughed watched me struggle to sit up and get off of the bed! I said "I'm sorry normally I can get up but I'm in excruciating pain" and still nothing until about 2 hours later when 2 paracetamol appeared.

I have had the joy of several months on a psychiatric ward. You would think a ward dealing with psychologically disturbed women would try and be at least a little bit therapeutically restful. Instead staff where loud at night, I was on 2 hour OBs where a man who I had never spoken to or been introduced to would open my door and check I wasn't dead. It would freak me out every time and I would be awake for an hour, just in time to be woken again.
When someone kicked off (about 5 times a day) and the staff were needed, instead of a pager or other system they set off the loudest siren with flashing red lights. It was hideous, even a mentally stable person would be shaking. The TV was on allllll day incredibly loud and showing whatever was on, I remember going in at about 10pm finding this little old lady who was rocking on her own whilst some.horror was showing.
There was absolutely no counseling or therapeutic treatment just drugs. No outside space just a courtyard where the smokers would go. So shite. And the food. I can't even begin.... I wrote to my MP afterward the first time but obviously nothing changed. It's basic stuff.
I have also been on a psychiatric ward in Asia. That was actually better unbelievably. Someone brushed my hair and they sang songs with us.

It's so fucking basic
Help people sleep well.
Good food.
Relaxing activities
Mindful Activities (jigsaws, art, yoga etc)
Nature.
Basic counselling (doesn't need to be psychotherapy just basic talking)

@smilesup that sounds barbaric and traumatic. Hope you are doing well now.

To be fair, for shift workers this night time is their normal. Do you walk around on tiptoe and whisper on your work shifts? Id rather they be awake and alert (in 'day mode' so to speak) than quietly nodding off behind the reception area desk

Do you walk around on tiptoe and whisper on your work shifts

I'd be capable of it, if there was a room full of people trying to sleep, yes. As an adult, 'being quiet' isn't usually synonymous with 'falling asleep', especially when there's work to do and people to take care of.

@FelicityBeedle you are not just an HCA. I bet you are a brilliant HCA.

YANBU I can never understand why they are so loud at night! Loud laughing, screeching and chatting and banging and clattering machines, slamming doors.

I was in for an induction for my daughter and didn't sleep for a week, one night they woke me every hour for blood pressure, were laughing and chatting all night in the bay next to me, then had the cheek to ask the next day if I'd slept and looked surprised when I said no!

@Lobelia123

As a matter of interest, if the person sat next to you at work tells you they have a cracking headache, do you try to keep the noise down a bit, or just carry on at your usual volume, regardless, because that's how you normally are and that's what's important to you?

Well I've been an exam invigilator. I've worked with (sleeping) children. I've been a school pupil / student.

Lots of jobs / roles / circumstances require you to be quiet. Rushing in dealing with an emergency can mean necessary noise. Lots of health professionals do manage to be quiet at night. So I think it's fair to point out why night staff might behave this way, but they still should address it.

Watchkeys, dont put words into my mouth that I didnt say or intend. making the jump to immediately implying Im selfish and inconsiderate is immature. These people have work to do and they need to get on with it.

A couple of my colleagues are very loud. And that's just in the day, not looking forward to being on a night with them. It's not just the speaking, it's the screeching laugh as well. Like nails down a blackboard.
Though it is a children's ward. And to be honest the main issue is usually the parents on their phones.

I'm a doctor and never had the energy to make much noise on night shifts. The only sounds you'd hear from me were if I desperately had to see a patient or the sound of me munching through the barage of snacks at the nurse's station (any self-respecting nightnurse brings a box of pringles and the biggest bag of Haribo they can find as a minimum) Earbuds and spa music on spotify is probably the best plan OP. Some noise can be helped and I totally get your complaint but often things still have to happen overnight too. Good luck x

It’s shit, but standard. Personally I’ve always found fellow patients worse.

OP if your pain isn't under control then ask to see the pain management team asap. They were brilliant when my pain was bad.

I work with colleagues who don’t have a ‘night voice’ and it drives me mad so I’m sorry you’re having to go through this OP.

However if you are as ill as you sound we have to take your obs more frequently. Every time we do obs you’re given a score which alerts the medical team and your obs are done more frequently until you can be de escalated, if that makes sense. Some of our patients are on twice daily obs but they aren’t ‘ill’. And they should be asking your name and date of birth every time you are given medication to prevent it being given to the wrong person, which when you’re tired on a night shift can happen. I hope you recover soon.

I didn't put any words in your mouth. I asked you a question.

You didn't answer it, though. Wonder why?

People can work loudly or quietly, can't they? Are you in denial about that basic fact?

It's definitely an NHS thing.I had similar when had to stay in hospital overnight while pregnant.
Fast forward to couple of years ago,had a private hospital stay and everyone had their own rooms there was a menu for food and you could buzz for a hot drink whenever you wanted.Ficking bliss it was.

Well when I worked in the bsby room of a nursery I had to get the babies to sleep so would be quiet then..,

In my job now as a teacher there are times I'm quiet eg in assembly, when I'm
Calming the children down for home time..,

If you think that's the case that it's just a normal shift do you think funeral home
Workers should be bubbly and chatty with the radio on etc?!

I'm sure it's possible to look after patients on a non emergency night ward whilst taking into consideration that said patients are trying to sleep...

When I had DS3 34 years ago, I left because the loudly cackling nurses were discussing how it was 'good' that a local murdered girl was 'only' a prostitute.
This was also as 2am. No Professionalism or care at all with those particular staff.

That is disgusting

@Watchkeys, I didnt respond because your hypothetical question was a bit silly. If someone were ill at work, of course Id try to be considerate. But equally a 'cracking headache' would imply they probably werent fit to be at work and should be at home. People in hospitals are sick. Sick people are often noisy. They groan, snore, talk loudly on phones, have inconsiderate visitors etc. Staff move in, speak to each other, consult, have to wake patients up for meds, bloodwork etc. If you are in a public ward and not a private room, theres going to be noise. The original poster is probably in pain and so triggered easily. For the staff, its another 'day at the office'. Thats the reality. i dont know why you are so combative. Settle down and find somethign worthwhile to pick a fight over, but find someone else to have your keyboard tussle with.