Noise exposure among staff in intensive care units and the effects of unit-based noise management: a monocentric prospective longitudinal study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Intensive care units (ICUs) are often too noisy, exceeding 70-80 dBA, which can have negative effects on staff. The corresponding recommendation of the World Health Organization (average sound pressure level below 35 dBA) is often not achieved. To date there is a lack of intervention studies examining the extent to which unit-based noise management in ICUs contributes to a reduction in noise exposure for the staff. The study therefore aims to provide answers to 1) how unit-based noise management sustainably reduces the subjective noise exposure among staff, and 2) how this intervention affects other noise-related topics.

Methods

We performed a monocentric prospective longitudinal study with three measurement points in a German university hospital in three ICUs. We

SUBMITTER: Armbruster C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10699060 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature