Rene (27 Sep 2012)
"Nicole's Birthing Experience"
Nicole,
 
First of all, congratulations on your new baby and on surviving that ordeal they put you through!
 
I can see where you are coming from when you had your baby and you had such horrendous treatment from hospital staff. I have no idea why anyone thinks that they can REST in a hospital. They will come in when you are sleeping at 11 pm and WAKE YOU UP to give you a sleeping pill. Some places are improving I think, because they don't offer you anything for sleep unless you ask for it. 
 
However, you are often awoken every hour on the hour by:
 
  • Doctors who think nothing of making rounds at 2 am and waking up their patients who need REST worse than they need anything else! YOUR convenience is never considered - you are there at THEIR convenience!
  • Housekeeping coming in to mop or sweep your floor
  • Lab technicians coming in to stick you for a blood test at 3 am so they can get the results back by 7am when doctors USUALLY start rounding!
  • CNAs who are supposed to get your vital signs at midnight, 4 am, and 8 am
  • CNAs coming in to empty your catheter bag
  • The night nurse shining a flashlight on you to be sure you are still breathing!
  • CNAs dropping off your bed linens because the morning CNAs are too busy to do this
  • CNAs grabbing your water pitcher (and your room mates) to fill them up for the following day.
  • The nurse or CNA coming to answer your room mate's call light
  • Your IV pump beeping and someone (eventually) coming in to regulate it or silence it.
  • The night nurse coming in to change all your IV tubing because the day shift is too busy and figures that the night nurses have more time on their hands for this task, and they have to turn on ALL the lights in your room to see what they are doing.
  • The 7 am university med students who walk in, surround your bed like curious eagles while their teacher prattles on and on about your condition and they all discuss your case between themselves (and sometimes poke and prod at you) as though you are invisible. (IF you are in a teaching hospital.)
  • And on...and on.... until you realize that it is 8 am and your breakfast tray has arrived and you haven't been to sleep yet, then radiology comes for you or the consulting physicians start rounding on you! The BEST thing for your IMMUNE system is REST, but forget about RESTING in any modern hospital!
 
Now, having said all that, I do realize that many of these "interruptions" to your sleep are important, but I never could understand why they could not coordinate many of them at the SAME time so that you are not awakened every hour on the hour during the night! AND if you are in ICU or CCU - ??? Forget the word SLEEP is even in your category!
 
Rene