Noise Pollution Exposure Among Nurses in a Public Hospital in Palestine

Abstract

Noise pollution affects our health adversely. At hospital, noise can harm health care professionals and patients too. It also affects the performance of the whole staff and therefore, the quality of the delivered services. This study aimed to assess noise levels nurses exposed to and to determine the sources of noise and nurses' complaints about it. A quantitative, descriptive cross sectional study was used. Noise levels at different departments in Palestine Medical Complex (PMC) were measured using an integrating sound level meter. A total of 180 nurses participated in the interviewing questionnaire. The results of the study showed that main sources of noise were: the loud arguments occurred between the health care staff and the relatives/visitors of the patients, loud conversations, the construction work and the renovation in the hospital, patients' crying/shouting, the medical equipment and the staff shouting. The main complaints were discomfort, bad communication, headache, fatigue, stress, irritability, low concentration, inattention, memory problems and noise effect on work efficiency. In most departments, morning shift was the noisiest shift and nurses (61.1%) considered work environment stressful and uncomfortable. Noise levels in all departments exceeded what is recommended by WHO with an average of 64.48 dBA. The minimum value of LAeq was 54.8 dBA in one CCU and the maximum one was 73.5 dBA in NICU. Conclusion: Different noise sources at PMC and many noise complaints were reported by nurses. Noise levels in different departments were above that recommended by WHO. The educational intervention should target nurses and the whole health care staff in order to increase their awareness about noise and to modify their behaviors to reduce it, as well as the effective management of medical devices and machines, repairing devices and physical space arrangement.