Nobody wants to spend a night in hospital, but often, it’s the best place to be. However, a group of doctors have shared one thing that can unnecessarily extend a patient’s stay, as it prevents vital information from being communicated properly.

In response to the Reddit thread titled, 'Doctors and nurses of Reddit, what is something patients do that they think is helpful but actually makes your job harder?', many medical professionals shared the same complaint. Putting it bluntly, one doctor explained that family members canunintentionally keep their loved ones in hospital longer by speaking on their behalf.

He wrote: "When I try to assess my patients and the family members won’t stop answering."

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Clarifying his point, he added: "I don’t want to keep replying individually - I’m talking about, for example, if I’m trying to ask questions to a patient in an acute care ward to assess their neurological status, I don’t want anyone but the patient to answer.

"Or if I go into the room and mention something that happened overnight to start a conversation, where they can try to tell me what happened, and a family member speaks first, it doesn’t help me assess the patient’s orientation, memory, cognition, speech pattern, gaze, affect, perception or understanding, and where I may need to educate them.

"I’m asking questions for many reasons other than what it may seem. If I finish asking the patient and they’re a poor historian, we will absolutely ask family to assist. We love family collaboration."

However, some users argued that their loved one may not be capable of explaining what they are experiencing and rely on family members to inform the doctor.

In response, another doctor added: "I'm a pediatrician and this is still the one for me.

"Mum and dad - you will get your turn. I want to know what the child is experiencing firsthand as well.

"And I know a seven-year-old can be unreliable. But you can’t feel whether their stomach ache has gone away or gotten worse."

Meanwhile, some people said they had experienced the opposite problem in hospital, claiming doctors ignored elderly patients and spoke directly to family members instead.

One user said: "We had the opposite problem. Our mother lived to be 96, and during the last several years of her life, the doctors would ignore her and ask us questions about her - even as she was sitting right there.

"We consistently had to tell them that she was the patient and they needed to discuss her issues with her.

"She was sharp and alert right up to the end - she could rattle off all her medications, dosages and side effects, yet the doctors would still try to engage us instead."