Staff across Noble’s Hospital are supporting a campaign aimed at ending what’s known as PJ Paralysis.
The campaign – which is also taking place across the UK health service at the same time – is all about making sure patients are up out of bed and dressed in everyday clothes as soon as possible.
Evidence has shown that patients benefit psychologically from getting out of their pyjamas or hospital gowns and into the clothes they would wear outside of a hospital. It promotes dignity and independence as well as, in many instances, shortening the length of stay.
For patients over the age of 80, a week in bed can lead to the equivalent of 10 years of muscle ageing and may lead to increased dependence. Making sure patients are up and about has been shown to reduce falls, lessen the number of urinary infections and decrease pressure injuries.
It can also reduce the length of a patient’s stay by up to one-and-a-half days.
Healthcare assistants in all Noble’s wards will be acting as champions for the campaign, and there will be posters around the hospital asking patients’ visitors to bring in clothes and shoes to be worn throughout the day, as well as the usual nightwear.
Spearheading the campaign is Wendy Spiers, Lead Nurse, Patient Experience, Patient Safety & Quality. She said:
'There’s no question that this is the best approach for patients. They go from wearing pyjamas in ‘sick mode’ to wearing clothes and starting to think ‘I’m getting better’.
'And this links in to the wider 1000 Days initiative. This is based around a simple question: if you had 1,000 days left to live, how many would you choose to spend in hospital? Clearly the answer is as few as possible. The #endpjparalyisis scheme can make such an important contribution to that ambition.'
