3 ms·
> Same with audio on machines, that constant beep is annoying to you, but it means the machines are operating and you are getting your prescribed fluids This a
by ethbro 8y ago
> Same with audio on machines, that constant beep is annoying to you, but it means the machines are operating and you are getting your prescribed fluids
This article is a terrible treatment of the issue. The NYT article [1] or actual research papers are far better.
To try and sum up the actual issue that's being discussed: it's a tragedy of the commons situation, where the commons is a patient's sleep.
Every device and procedure priorities derisking above ALL else. In aggregate, this results in a huge negative impact on sleep.
The suggested change in behavior is to simply prioritize quality sleep somewhere about "irrelevant."
From the original research, a few points (from memory):
- Outcomes for non-critical patients are not substantially improved by the "every 2(?) hour vital check" regime. It's followed mostly because of legacy medical inertia
- There is little effort to batch interactions
- A substantial amount of sleep-disrupting noise is a modern hospital is non-functional
From personal experience at a good cancer research hospital in a major city, one omnipresent alarm was a low battery warning... for a device that was plugged into mains power. No one knew how to turn it off or fix it.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/upshot/why-hospitals-should-let-you-sleep.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/upshot/why-hospitals-shou...
- killjoywashere 8y ago> There is little effort to batch interactions The nurses are highly incentivized to batch interactions, just like waitstaff. What you don't see is that if the nurse has is working on the batch for patient A, and patient B crashes, then the nurse is too tied down to respond and calls in a colleague, who shows up to crashing patient B and tries to get up to speed.
- ethbro 8y agoCan't speak for all arrangments, but with my mother's post-surgical care, it was typically different draws for different purposes. E.g. This or that specialist wanted to run a test, so they sent someone or had a floor nurse draw. But none of this seemed to be sync'd to the regular interaction schedule.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]