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Perception of Noise by Emergency Department Nurses

INTRODUCTION: Noise in the emergency department (ED) may be perceived to be high by both patients and nurses alike. This increased noise level is hypothesized to be responsible for communication interference and subsequent disruption of complex procedures and decision-making. The objective of this s...

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Autores principales: Graneto, John, Damm, Tessa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3789922/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24106556
http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2013.5.16215
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author Graneto, John
Damm, Tessa
author_facet Graneto, John
Damm, Tessa
author_sort Graneto, John
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Noise in the emergency department (ED) may be perceived to be high by both patients and nurses alike. This increased noise level is hypothesized to be responsible for communication interference and subsequent disruption of complex procedures and decision-making. The objective of this study is to quantify ambient noise level in an ED while obtaining coincident subjective surveys from nurses in the assessment of actual versus perceived noise. METHODS: Data collected from surveys of ED nurses on each of 3 different dates revealed that sound levels within the selected ED were consistently at or below 70 decibels (dB) of sound as measured by a sound level meter. This level of sound is of the same decibel of normal conversation at a 3–5 foot distance. Nurses surveyed overwhelmingly rated noise as “low” or “not loud” irrespective of a variance (though predominantly within a 10 dB range) in actual sound decibel measurements. RESULTS: Years of experience of work within emergency departments proved the most consistent predictor of nurses’ opinions on the frequency with which noise levels within the ED were louder than they should be, with more experienced nurses all ranking noise levels as “frequently” or “always” louder than they should be. CONCLUSION: Individual variance existed in how nurses felt that noise level affected work function. ED nurses’ perception of noise is perceived to be low and generally not interfering with their cognitive function.
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spelling pubmed-37899222013-10-08 Perception of Noise by Emergency Department Nurses Graneto, John Damm, Tessa West J Emerg Med Emergency Department Operations INTRODUCTION: Noise in the emergency department (ED) may be perceived to be high by both patients and nurses alike. This increased noise level is hypothesized to be responsible for communication interference and subsequent disruption of complex procedures and decision-making. The objective of this study is to quantify ambient noise level in an ED while obtaining coincident subjective surveys from nurses in the assessment of actual versus perceived noise. METHODS: Data collected from surveys of ED nurses on each of 3 different dates revealed that sound levels within the selected ED were consistently at or below 70 decibels (dB) of sound as measured by a sound level meter. This level of sound is of the same decibel of normal conversation at a 3–5 foot distance. Nurses surveyed overwhelmingly rated noise as “low” or “not loud” irrespective of a variance (though predominantly within a 10 dB range) in actual sound decibel measurements. RESULTS: Years of experience of work within emergency departments proved the most consistent predictor of nurses’ opinions on the frequency with which noise levels within the ED were louder than they should be, with more experienced nurses all ranking noise levels as “frequently” or “always” louder than they should be. CONCLUSION: Individual variance existed in how nurses felt that noise level affected work function. ED nurses’ perception of noise is perceived to be low and generally not interfering with their cognitive function. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine 2013-09 /pmc/articles/PMC3789922/ /pubmed/24106556 http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2013.5.16215 Text en Copyright © 2013 the authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
spellingShingle Emergency Department Operations
Graneto, John
Damm, Tessa
Perception of Noise by Emergency Department Nurses
title Perception of Noise by Emergency Department Nurses
title_full Perception of Noise by Emergency Department Nurses
title_fullStr Perception of Noise by Emergency Department Nurses
title_full_unstemmed Perception of Noise by Emergency Department Nurses
title_short Perception of Noise by Emergency Department Nurses
title_sort perception of noise by emergency department nurses
topic Emergency Department Operations
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3789922/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24106556
http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2013.5.16215
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