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stop light in Cottonwood
Some of you may have noticed the ‘stop light’ in the hall at St. Mary’s Hospital. This is a noise meter which lets staff and visitors know if they are getting too loud. The meter starts at green and then goes to yellow for caution; starting to get too loud and then to red; too loud need to reduce your noise level. “This is another one of our many steps in reducing noise at St. Mary’s Hospital,” commented Kathy Seubert, Director of Nursing. “We started with the carpet in the hallways and are looking at several other noise reducing options.” A study this year from the University of Chicago found that average noise levels in a hospital room easily exceeded the 30 decibels, slightly louder than a whisper, recommended by the World Health Organization, and peak noise levels sometimes approached the level of a chain saw. Not surprisingly, patients in the loudest rooms suffered most, losing as much as an hour or more of sleep a night compared with those in the quietest rooms. And for every hour of sleep lost, the patients’ blood pressure increased by as much as six points. The most challenging obstacle in the quest for quiet, however, appears to be not the machines but rather the approach to patient care in most American hospitals. Doctors, nurses and other members of the hospital staff often wake patients up in the middle of the night or during afternoon naps to assess a non-urgent blood pressure or temperature, draw blood or administer medications that could safely be delayed by a couple of hours. St. Mary’s is going to institute a ‘quite time’ were staff will not disturb patients during that time to take non-urgent vitals. “While at the hospital in an unfamiliar environment patients hear many noises, said Seubert.“These sounds are due to efficient delivery of care and are normal in a hospital; however there is always room to improve. SMH wants to group nursing care, diagnostic studies, and procedures together to allow the patient to have a healing stay. Our goal is to reduce noise around the patient’s room allowing them to rest well at all times.” “We have formed a Process Improvement Committee to address the reduction of noise in the hospital,” said Leianne Everett, COO. “Along with staff members we will also have community members participating in this effort with the intent the community members would be able to represent the patient’s and/or visitor’s perspective. The committee will be exploring creative approaches to generating a peaceful and restful environment.” 
Kelly Williams, Kathy Seubert, Kendra Chandler and Sue McAfee and shown ‘shushing’ the photographer in order to keep the stoplight at green. Photo submitted by Cheri Holthaus. |
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