Coping with noise in hospital

Visiting a friend in hospital last week I was reminded just how noisy hospital wards can be. My friend told me how difficult getting to sleep at night can be.  It’s not necessarily that the hospital staff or other patients make a lot of noise.  The electronic equipment that has become vital to patients’ survival creates its own rather alien sounds which of course continue throughout the day and night.

We have become attuned to the particular needs of hospital patients because via our website we send gifts to people in hospital on behalf of friends and family who cannot to visit them in person.  So it’s important that we offer a range of gifts that reflects what patients really want.

One of the gifts in our AFriendinNeed range is a “hospital survival kit”, which includes some ear plugs.  At first we included them mainly as a joke.  But visiting someone in a noisy ward has reminded us how vital ear plugs can be for a patient who wants an undisturbed night’s sleep.      

Decorating for Easter

As this is the week before Easter, we have been thinking about how best we should celebrate Easter.  One possibility is to put up some Easter decorations.  They are a common feature in Germany and other European countries, though we in the UK seem a little slow to catch on.  There is in fact a strong tradition of Easter decorations in some parts of Europe, from bare branches or twigs through to painted eggs, chocolates and cuddly toys such as rabbits.

 

Perhaps we should also give a thought to those who will be spending the Easter weekend in hospital.  We will be very aware of them because we operate a website that sends gifts to people in hospital on behalf of friends and family who cannot to visit them in person. 

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Wherever you are, a Happy Easter from all of us here at AFriendinNeed!

Chocolate can stop you coughing

Chocolate, as we all know, is often given as a gift.  It’s one of the gifts most frequently given to patients in hospital – at least that’s what we’ve found from running the AFriendinNeed website.  We specialise in sending gifts to people in hospital on behalf of friends and family who cannot to visit them in person – and one of the most popular gifts is a box of chocolates.

It’s reassuring to learn, therefore, that chocolate also appears to have some medicinal value.  It contains an ingredient called theobromine which tests have shown is more effective at preventing coughing than cough medicine itself.

What is more, theobromine apparently has no unwanted side effects – unlike for example the standard cough suppressant codeine, which can cause drowsiness and constipation.

So whatever else the patients who receive gifts of chocolate via our website may be suffering from, they should not be coughing.

Keep mobile phones out of hospitals

According to recent research, patients in hospital should not use their mobile phones. Scientists in Holland have concluded that mobile phones should come no closer than one metre to a hospital bed or the equipment that is used by the bed.  The reason is that interference from second and third generation mobile phones can damage equipment like external pacemakers, syringe pumps and mechanical ventilators.

 

The solution for hospital patients, it seems, is to rely on the land line – which as we know may not be very convenient.

 

We have an interest in what patients can have with them in hospital.  At AFriendinNeed.co.uk we send gifts to people in hospital on behalf of friends and family who cannot to visit them in person.  We offer a range of gifts on the website, but I’m glad to say we’ve never contemplated selling mobile phones!