“Have a clock clearly visible to the patient. When recovering, a five-minute nap might feel like five hours. It will help the patient feel oriented.”
When recovering from a serious medical incident, it is very confusing for the patient. Being immobile makes even the simplest task difficult. When I would sleep, it was induced by either drugs or exhaustion. It would feel like I had been asleep for hours, when it may have only been a few minutes before pain abruptly pulled me into consciousness.
Knowing what time it was was strangely comforting. I was constantly doing flawed math in my head. Being able to see a clock at all times helped me with clarity. Simple but important.