To sleep perchance to heal: her own sudden collapse
Hospital stay revealed the disturbing truth of wards
As a critical care nurse, Shona Mckie could appreciate the irony.
In a twist of fate, she had been felled by a rare condition, a condition in which she specialised.
But the subsequent stay in a hospital ward – on the other end of the care she had spent 15 years providing as an NHS nurse at Glasgow Royal Infirmary – gave her a fresh perspective on a crucial aspect of her patients’ recovery.
Sleep has been linked with good health, especially in patients recovering from critical care in hospitals.
And lack of sleep has been linked with ICU delirium, where patients, weak and in strange surroundings, begin to lose grip of reality.
Not only did mum-of-two Shona battle back to health, though, she went on to create the awardwinning Sleep Well, Feel Well, Get Well initiative being trialled by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Its results in improving sleep for patients have so far been described as “remarkable” and it’s expected the programme will be rolled out nationwide.
Shona’s groundbreaking work began three years ago when she fell ill on a trip to the swimming pool with her two sons, now aged 10 and seven.
“I collapsed in the changing room in Ayr Citadel,” said Shona. “My little boys had just gone into their swimming lessons and I had just waved them off when I began to feel extremely unwell.
“One of the lifeguards phoned an ambulance and I was bluelighted to the hospital.
“I suspected I had gallstone pancreatitis, and I wasn’t wrong. What happened was gallstones passed through my gallbladder and liver, and those organs just started to fail.
“People die from this condition but thankfully I got very good treatment at my local hospital.
“I couldn’t believe it. I had a disease I knew the most about. Ultimately, I thought the worst outcome would happen to me. “There were times when I thought it could go either way, but inside I was adamant it wouldn’t happen to me. I have two small children at home.”
During her battle back to health on a ward similar to the one where she worked, Shona struggled to sleep, something she knew would hinder her recovery.
“I’m a person who needs a sleep,” explained Shona. “After my first son was born, I had a period of sleep deprivation so I know I’m a person who doesn’t cope well physically or emotionally with not sleeping. “When I was in hospital, I became aware that I wasn’t, as a patient, getting the sleep I needed to recover.
“It quickly became apparent just how many factors there are disturbing a patient’s sleep in the ward.”
After two weeks in hospital, Shona began to recover and eventually returned to work. But it wasn’t until she was back on the ward that she found her perspective changed.
“As a nurse I wasn’t aware of it at all. The stay gave me a whole new perspective.
“On my first night shift it all came back to me,” said Shona. “I thought, ‘why are we going to wake this person who’s sleeping?’ “I remembered what it was like and