‘Being critically ill is not their main complaint’: Doctor says noisy ICUs causing patients sleep deprivation
Professor Ed Litton says many patients grumble more about their lack of sleep than illness that got them admitted to ICU.
A leading intensivist is on a mission to turn down the volume in ICUs, after his research shows patients are struggling to sleep amid noise levels equivalent to a buzzing alarm clock.
After a few days in intensive care, bleary-eyed patients’ main complaint is often not about their illness but their inability to sleep, says Professor Ed Litton, of Perth’s Fiona Stanley Hospital.
“It’s amazing to me how frequently I look after patients in our ICU who’ve come in with some sort of critical illness,” Professor Litton tells 6minutes.
“But after a night or two, in intensive care, when I see them in the morning, their major complaint actually doesn’t relate to what brought them in.
