Hospital noise causes problems not only for patients trying to get better, but also for the people that work there. There are several key areas of concern when it comes to hospital noise, including noise levels at night on hospital wards, noise levels in neonatal units and in intensive care, and noise at work for hospital employees. At Pulsar Instruments we are working to solve hospital noise in a number of ways. We have worked with a number of hospitals to help measure the noise under different conditions and provide solutions for keeping their noise levels under a chosen decibel level where necessary.
Evaluating Noise in Arthroplasty Theatres
We’ve previously helped British doctors understand the impact of noise in the workplace during orthopaedic surgery with the Pulsar NoiseBadge.
The purpose of this study was to look at the levels of noise exposure for an orthopaedic surgical team which includes the surgeon, assistant, scrub nurse, and anaesthetist during a total hip and knee arthroplasty surgery.
We loaned the team a full set of Pulsar NoiseBadge Dosimeters for use in theatre and helped them to interpret the results, discovering the source of the issue.
Find out more about this study and the results here.
Monitoring Noise in West Wales
Recently Glangwili General Hospital in Carmarthan, West Wales set up a study to look at whether a quieter hospital environment led to improved sleep and caused less patient stress, and if because of this overall patient recovery improved.
A Pulsar SafeEar Noise Warning Sign was placed within each individual bed space. Baseline noise was monitored with 5 interchangeable data loggers for a five-week period, and this baseline data allowed for the quantitative data to be analysed pre- and post-implementation of warning signs to see if a reduction occurred.
Find out more about this study and the results here.
Solutions for Controlling Hospital Noise
We offer a range of noise measurement devices suitable for use in hospitals and neonatal units.
Our noise-activated warning sign, the Pulsar SafeEar lights up to warn staff and visitors when a pre-set noise level has been reached or exceeded and noise levels need to be reduced. These devices are perfect for mounting in hospital wards, corridors, public places and around the nurses’ station.
Simple to use hand-held noise level meters such as the Pulsar Model 14, or the Pulsar Nova can also be useful for making spot checks on noise or noisy equipment or to identify problem activities, or for use with a kit for longer-term noise monitoring.
To measure the personal noise exposure levels of surgeons and nurses etc. then a personal noise dosimeter, such at the Pulsar NoiseBadge or the Pulsar NoisePen is what you’re looking for.
For more information on hospital noise and to find out the best way to measure these levels contact a member of our team at [email protected] or on +44 1723 339715.
