That being watched in hospital makes me feel uneasy

[Turnthebloodyheatdowninhospital]

Names changed inspired by the fact I am in hospital and they need to turn the bloody heat down. I nearly cried when the women next to the window closed it- Anyway

I am on the nicest quietest ward I have ever been on (heat aside) but I am in for a week so the seizures I have can be monitored. I am hooked up to a portable eeg so have these wires stuck on my head (not very comfy).
however the thing that is strange that in our bay there is nurse basically watching over us all the time. So she is sat there all night and keep looking from one of us to the other.

one the plus side everyone is lovely and quiet and no one is pretending they are a duck (last time I was in on another ward). No one is talking on loud speaker, the 2 ladies opposite me have headphones in watching something. The lady next to me is reading quietly (after handing out earplugs as she snores- bless her)

so all good. It’s quiet, it’s dark but having someone watching me is making me feel really weird. And I don’t feel I can sleep Would anyone else feel the same

My hospital has windows that open. It’s either boiling hot or freezing cold though, with go inbeween.

Gosh people have been snippy and mean towards you haven’t they ! Yes I’d feel very self conscious

I spent 3 weeks in with my toddler , I went loopy with lack of sleep - heat , noise snoring. Horrific and I didn’t have probes in my head !

you poor thing, hope you are home soon and can fart freely !

Sorry you’re in hospital OP. I’d be more concerned if the nurse wasn’t monitoring me!

The judgemental comments are obviously from people who haven’t been in the same situation OP, ignore them.

You’re not being ungrateful or over dramatic and I can definitely see where you’re coming from. Although it’s for your own good and it’s encouraging to hear that you’re being well looked after having no privacy or space of your own is really tough. I’m a HCP and will freely admit that even I’ve struggled being in the ward environment whilst an inpatient!

See my new thread. Being watched is the least of my worries now

I would absolutely hate that. And would likely develop an anxiety attack.

Standard procedure, for everybody's safety. Not designed to upset you. Try to think positively - they care about it.

I assume it's a neuro ward? The first night I was admitted they woke me up every 15 mins to ask me questions. It's procedure I imagine.

All over the world, people are desperately complaining about inadequate medical care - and you're complaining because your care is conscientious?

You must be in a 'high risk' bay for either yourself or someone else or mulitple people in there. Can you pull your curtains round at night time so if feels more private. Ive worked on wards and done bay watch soooo many times, its for a reason and believe me as a staff member point of view its hard, i do get it could feel uncomfortable though

Give it a rest.

You can be grateful for good care but also find someone constantly watching you uncomfortable.

In ICU you get your own nurse sat at your bedside. They're literally touching your bed and if they need the loo another will take their place. In the HDUs I've been in it was two nurses for three beds.

When my son was in PICU, it would be two nurses for one patient if they were very poorly which is how my son started and then when he improved, it was one nurse for two patients.

No, I wouldn't feel the same. If I was ill enough to need to stay in hospital, I would be reassured that someone was keeping an eye on me. That is kind of the point of being in hospital!
It sounds as if you're getting 5 star treatment tbh. I hope you feel better soon

I also hate it. But their job is literally to watch you. Be assured by that it won't be fir long

I don't know why so many people seem to be misinterpreting this. I think it's quite natural to feel uneasy having someone watching you sleep, as its instinctively a vulnerable time regardless of you logically knowing the reason is positive.
Can you lie in your side facing away without it disturbing her monitoring of you? Might make it feel slightly less invasive.

What sort of questions were they asking? I can imagine that would turn into sleep deprived nonsense as answers after the first couple of hours for a lot of people!

Well i presume she is delbratley staring at people so she is doing her job so I wouldn't feel anything much

I'm sorry you're going through this and I hope you get better soon, it sounds awful. If it were me though, I'd sleep far better knowing they would notice if I had a seizure than if they were elsewhere and I didn't get any help.

I hope your son is much better. Fortunately I've never experienced a PICU. I have been in ICU several times, including in comas on life support twice and was very ill. I obviously had no awareness at those times, but whilst awake (unfortunately I was aware that others in the room didn't make it), I never saw more than a 1:1 ratio. I think the obs were 15 minutes. They never seemed to stop. Those nurses were amazing.

He is doing much better thanks, he wasn't expected to survive but thankfully beat all of the odds. He's only been home for 3 months and I still can't believe it most days.

When he was at his most critically ill, he was in a side room. He needed 2:1 ratio mainly because he had a dialysis machine at the time which had a very complicated filter system. He was in a coma too and had a ventilator as well as ecmo.

Yep, constant obs, constant blood gases. He was there for 7 weeks. The nurses were great, I'll never forget what they did with him. They went above and beyond.

Not long after he was extubated, he was sad because he hadn't seen outside in a month. He had just come off the dialysis too though still had a lot of pumps but the nurses roped in a doctor and we all pushed him, pumps and all, to the entrance of the hospital so he could be outside, it started to rain a bit and it meant the world to my boy. I'll never forget their kindness.

Of course they are watching you, you're the because you have seizures

Very odd in this day and age. All hospitals I have been in for last 20 odd years have performed this function via camera. So same staff member but sitting out at a desk watching 4 monitors if a 4 bed ward. The only real exceptions I’ve seen are post op recovery, NICU’s and some ICU’s (with other ICU’s using camera system and one person monitoring the one bed if needed etc).

Particularly with seizures, it may be that the nurse has been asked to monitor for absences too.
Just a thought. I'm a former nurse, and my daughter also has frequent seizures and has undergone similar monitoring.

Ffs, she’s doing her job! You’re having seizures so it’s her job to monitor you! No doubt you’d be the one posting in here if your buzzer want answered the minute you pressed it!