Goodnight Pediatrics: Children's Hospitals Rethink Nighttime Care

As children's hospitals continue to evolve in their approach to patient care, one crucial aspect that has gained significant attention lately is the importance of sleep for young patients. Gone are the days when hospitals solely focused on providing medical treatment; today, healthcare providers recognize the vital role sleep plays in a child's overall health and well-being.

According to Heather Walsh, a registered nurse at Children's National Health System in Washington, D.C., there is a growing interest in catering to both children and their parents. Doctors are recognizing that what works at home may not necessarily translate to hospital settings, where the environment can be quite different from what children experience at night.

To address this disparity, some hospitals have started implementing strategies to promote better sleep for pediatric patients. For instance, some institutions enforce quiet hours after dark, cluster activities like overnight blood draws and medication doses to minimize interruptions, and bring in tools such as white noise machines to create a soothing environment.

Moreover, hospitals are now adopting tactics used to foster better sleep at adult facilities. Sapna Kudchadkar, an assistant professor of anesthesiology, critical care, and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, notes that the goal is to optimize children's sleep during their hospital stay. 'If we're going to try to heal kids,' she emphasizes, 'we need to try to have them do the one thing that's so important for their brain development.'

By recognizing the significance of sleep, children's hospitals are rethinking how they work at night. By implementing these changes, healthcare providers hope to improve not only children's sleep quality but also their overall health and healing process.

As Jennifer Jewell, a pediatric hospitalist at Barbara Bush Children's Hospital in Portland, Maine, points out, 'We're doing some stuff in our hospitals that doesn't really reflect what we're telling people to do at home.' By addressing this disparity, children's hospitals can provide better care for their young patients and promote healthier outcomes.

Goodnight pediatrics