[gravescale]

I honestly believe that a pair or noise cancelling headphones and an eye mask would have statistically noticable effects on outcomes. The bright, noisy environment of a hospital makes good, natural sleep basically impossible and that is brutal on even healthy people.

My ward even managed to have the (networked digitally controlled, and do presumably very expensive) lighting set up so the night lighting was inside the curtains and shining directly into the bed spaces, and the main ward lights would come up if you touched the wrong thing (even the nurses weren't quite sure exactly what the proximal causes of lighting changes was). With the pumps alarming the whole time (about once per night, per patient, up to 20 minutes until resolution each time) plus all the other regular medical checks preventing any extended quiet time, it was absolutely exhausting at a very deep level.