David Oliver: Reflections from a hospital bed (29 March 2023)

Summary

In this BMJ article, consultant in geriatrics and acute medicine David Oliver describes his experience of being an inpatient in the hospital he works in. He talks about how his three-day admission with respiratory syncytial virus and pneumococcus has given him a better understanding of what patients experience in hospital.

He describes how lack of privacy, poor quality food and noise affected him during his stay as an inpatient. He also highlights that although all staff were professional and kind, they were clearly overworked and unable to focus on more 'minor' concerns that patients have.