The evolving perception of staff on the acoustic environment of Critical Care Units

摘要

While previous work on hospital acoustics concentrated on patients, this initial study explores the impact of hospital acoustic environments on staff, especially in Critical Care Units (CCU), using a sociological approach, grounded theory. Data were collected by means of participant observation and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 members of hospital staff (8 nurses and 4 consultants) in three typical CCU at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. The interview analysis involved coding and memos, through the procedure of constant comparison. The core category was the 'bad sound environment', represented by several 'drive-you-mad' annoying phenomena, such as unacceptable noise level, echo and overheard speech. The context, conditions and consequences of this core category have been discussed and depicted in a conceptual framework. Although hospital staff often get used to the poor acoustic environment after years' working experience, they could still lose concentration to a certain degree and feel tired, or even get a headache, especially with unintended and repeated alarms as well as inappropriately loud talking. The sound environment in CCU is significantly time-dependent, relating to the handover arrangement, visiting time, and normal admission time.