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!!

Yanbu I was in hospital recently and heard the life story of a HCA chatting to her colleague.

She was saying how her mum had been ill recently and the paramedics hadn’t acted quickly enough and that they were taking action against the NHS so it was a really inappropriate thing for her to be talking about given it was an NHS hospital.

Another story I got was one HCA who was at uni and studying medicine and how he was unsure what he wanted to specialise in etc. I know it’s probably not that fun working nights but I got no sleep.

I don’t get why they couldn’t talk just that little bit quieter or move out of the ward slightly to have those discussions.

What utter arseholes.

I would insist they get a doctor today to prescribe you sleeping pills (I know there’s a shortage of drs overnight).

can anyone bring you earplugs / eye mask / headphones ?

I have had same in every hospital stay & became very mentally ill last time. I’ll do almost anything to avoid hospital now which is not ideal because I have stage IV cancer and am very sick.

I went to visit my father at the undertakers. There was a lovely room to view him in. It was next to the mortuary. The residents obviously didn't make any noise but I noticed a big notice for the staff. It asked them to be completely quiet in that area and to remember ,at all times, that people visiting were going through one of the worst times of their lives and so laughter and chatting was inappropriate. Obviously the dead are very different to the living but I have had hospital stays like a lot of you have described and they are hell on earth.

@AngelinaFibres how sad that they had to put a notice up though!!

In my experience a lot of nurses should absolutely not be in a caring profession as they patently don't give a shit. The worst experience was waiting to get surgery on my knee and hearing 2 nurses bitch loudly about my dad,who was a Consultant Haematologist at the time, hellish. I am still ashamed that I didn't speak up, but I was so shocked. Never told anyone this.

YANBU. I had an 18 hour stay in hospital to be monitored after being carted off in an ambulance with the migraine from hell. I'd had several awful days already, really needed to rest. By the time my partner picked me up I was shaking with fatigue because I'd only been able to cat nap for the entire time I was in. Yes, they have a job to do but they don't need to slam and bang about all night, the lights don't have to be on full strength (I spent most of the time with my blanket from om over my head) and they don't need to yell across the ward at each other at 3 am.

So YANBU! One night - during lockdown I had to listen to hours of argument between 2 nurses (not sure?) over covid - basically one was anti-vacc conspiracy oriented. Apart from trying and failing to sleep - the topic really didn't inspire confidence given the setting.....

Nighttimes are the worst in hospital. I was in hospital for three weeks once and I would dread the nights as nothing about hospital at night is conducive to a decent night’s sleep. And for the love of god don’t keep waking me up to take a sleeping tablet!!

So so agree with you op.
When I had my youngest dc, I was on the bed next to the door and had the sink and bin next to us, my baby would jump everytime the nurses opened and shut the bin, they made no attempt to do it quietly and would constantly wake us..I was fuming but after telling 2 midwifes to please do it gently I gave up as there was a different midwife doing it every time so no bloody point.

When i sleep nothing wakes me except when i am in hospital, nurses screeching and laughing their heads off, nurses banging doors and nurses singing ! Nurses need to learn to STFU when on a nightshift.

I feel your pain. I'm in hospital and have been for over 5 months. The constant beeping of monitors alone drives me nuts.

Last night I couldn't sleep because of snoring. I assumed it was the new patient opposite me who's seriously ill, but it was actually the nurse. I despair.

It’s not the obs, it’s the sitting at the nurses station in hysterics that travels so so much.

Oh this is what I had just come into say! I have never been so sleep deprived as when I was in hospital. Whilst waiting for surgery, in between IVs I actually went home for a few hours to fucking sleep during the day

So .... did you all complain.. record the chats on your phone .. tell the staff how inconsiderate they were being? This total disregard of patient welfare seems to be a particularly British thing. German hospitals prioritise patient sleep as do French ones. Unless people complain nothing will change. The staff know they're keeping you awake - they don't care

I spent three nights on a ward with five other mothers and six newborns and nurses coming in and out every few minutes. Thinking about it still makes me shudder. By the end of it, I honestly thought I was going to die and I was completely unhinged. It would be regarded as completely unacceptable under the Geneva convention. I have no idea why it's regarded as perfectly normal in UK hospitals.

It’s completely batshit that in 2023 with electronic communication staff talk so loudly around patients at night.

Its so inconsiderate in non emergency situations.

@NannyOggsWhiskyStash one night nurse walked around saying how much she hates her job talking to herself on the medication round and not to the patients. Even if as a young person craves human interaction and a few sentences to each old person rather than telling the middle of the wars she should have married someone rich.

the trouble is nurses who only do night shifts. They historically did them for an easier time/pay but they de skill and the Night Shift is time when you can fill in discharge paperwork to enable people to be discharged sooner and help the bed state etc. Not as these ones did come in with a bag and get all their knitting set out on the desk and be pissed when they were disturbed

No one does this at the time as when you are ill and vulnerable and these nurses are the ones in control of your pain meds and food and drink and care you don’t complain as you are shit scared that your shit care gets worse.

I think everyone should have single rooms and family allowed to stay 24/7 for basic care and help

YANBU, my DD 11 at the time was told an overnight stay for Asthma attack. They put the lights off about 12 but a couple were arguing with their little one, being horribly strict considering she was a patient, taking it in turns to go out for a cigarette so lots of chair scraping, and the nurses did not tell them to pipe down, even though the woman was saying she couldn't hack being in there any longer to care for her sick child 😔. Then more children arrived and more banging, tablets playing Peppa pig at 1 am. My DD just wanted to get the hell out of there. She finally drifted off about 2.30, a nurse comes again, loudly and abrubtly pulls the curtain across to say she is now discharged so we had to leave at 3am! I am really unsure why we were told to stay until the morning. Obviously I am thankful to them for providing the health care but yes, it is a complete nightmare.

Yes, I actually think it is like a sort of torture - the sleep deprivation and the surprise loud noises!

I can’t believe they wouldn’t give you ear plugs!! Our hospital is far from perfect but they would have provided you with ear plugs if you’d asked. We’re all aware how noisy the place can be and how hard it can be for patients to sleep.

When DS was 3 weeks old, he contracted a mystery infection and was hospitalised for a week.
I was breastfeeding so stayed the whole time with him in a side room.
The noise from the nursing staff was unreal. I was suffering as it was with a poorly 3 week old not sleeping on my own but then one particular nurse would come in during the night. Me and my husband called her "Mr Bull" (ala Peppa Pig) because of the amount of banging and clanging that she did.
Nurses do a very important job but I think we put them on a pedestal a bit. They're not angels or saints. They people doing an important job and when they're doing it poorly, we should feel comfortable to challenge it without feeling like we're pissing on the "poor nurses".
I was too tired, vulnerable, young and scared at the time to speak up. But I wouldn't hold my tongue now.

Yep - I found this when I was in hospital being induced due to high risk labour. It was pushed back for days because they were so busy - but i just didn't sleep in there at all as was being checked, but also lights that didn't turn off, lots of conversation in the room etc, just no sense of day/night at all which i guess is understandable as health workers don't have the same day/night pattern but it meant that when I was finally induced i was absolutely exhausted before i had to go into labour and then look after a unwell newborh in hospital for weeks after. i was starting the process on empty because i did not sleep!

I really hope you get better soon and that you are able to get some sleep eventually.

Completely agree, most nurses do a fab job, but when you’re in hospital at night trying to sleep, they shouldn’t be having loud conversations about their husband, dog, children, garden or laughing loudly about the person in bed 7’s funny injury so that everyone can hear.

I got woken up at 1am to ask what I wanted for lunch the next day