HOSPITALS AND SLEEP. Once when she was awakened by a nurse in a hospital with the question: Do you know where your are?”, Mary Jane replied: “Yes. I’m in Hell.”
This article by Maureen Salomon about a recent study of some 1100 patients tells about success in reducing awakenings of patients—
“a Chicago hospital adopted sleep-friendly measures for patients that led to fewer nighttime awakenings without compromising care. Nighttime room entries dropped by 44 percent after researchers educated doctors and nurses on the health consequences of in-hospital sleep deprivation.”
The lead doctor on the study said: “”We’ve known [inpatient sleep deprivation] is a problem since Florence Nightingale in the 1800s, so why hasn’t it been fixed? It’s a very patient-centered problem that also has health implications….”
There is a trade off between sleep and, for example, checking on vital signs, but it’s nice to see the importance of sleep being acknowledged.
Link via Instapundit
I had long believed that the crazy long shifts emergency room doctors work would lead to worse care, but when I asked a friend who worked in the field he said studies showed better outcomes when the same doctor stays with a patient, even if they’re up 20+ hours straight.