Nationwide, patients complain twice as often about noise in hospitals as they do about any other part of their stay.
Starting yesterday, St. Charles Health System is launching a “quiet campaign” to address the problem throughout its facilities in Central Oregon. The health system has spent the past several months working to make equipment quieter, to find ways to remind staff to lower their voices and to encourage visitors to allow patients time to rest in a quiet space.
“Family and visitors are good for the healing process, but we still need to have our quiet at night,” said Nancy Simonson, manager of the ortho/neuro unit at St. Charles Bend, who has led the campaign for the health system. “Quiet is also good for healing. As the noise level goes up, patients become anxious, which can lead to elevated heart rates and blood pressure. The physiological aspects of healing are impacted negatively by noise.”
Visitors will notice new signs on each floor that read, “Shhhh … A quiet environment is a healing environment.” And, starting this week, visiting hours will change. Instead of set hours when visitors are asked to leave, the hospitals in Bend and Redmond will make an overhead announcement at 9pm respectfully asking for quiet throughout the hospitals so that loved ones can rest. Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Prineville will continue to enforce visiting hours because the hospital has shared rooms.
In addition, patients may notice new Yacker Tracker devices in the hospitals that resemble stoplights. These devices monitor decibel levels and the light changes from green to yellow to red as the level increases.
“When it gets to a certain decibel it will say, ‘Quiet please,’” Simonson said. “Just the other day a little girl who was 2 or 3 was crying in the waiting area near our reception desk. The Yacker Tracker went off and she started laughing and stopped fussing.”
All of the nursing units, housekeeping and food services have helped implement the quiet campaign. Simonson and Tom Newton, manager of facilities for St. Charles Bend, have spent time rounding on all the floors of the hospital to determine where noises come from. Newton said because of this research, his team has replaced wheels on many of the equipment carts in the hospital and rebuilt parts of the pneumatic tube system that is used to transport pharmaceuticals and supplies throughout the hospital.
“We have been working on it all summer,” Newton said. “We removed rubber strips where carpet transitions to a solid surface and replaced it with carpet all the way to the edge to reduce the noise of carts going over those spots. We made sure the fire doors are properly adjusted so they are not slamming any more than they need to. I think that some of those things have made a difference.”
While the staff has made many changes, St. Charles is also asking patients and visitors for their help in improving the quiet, healing atmosphere at the hospitals in Bend, Redmond and Prineville. Simonson said that patients are encouraged to tell caregivers if their conversations are too loud. In return, caregivers will be asking parents to supervise children who are visiting at all times and may limit visitors so patients can rest.
“We really want to partner with our community to improve our healing environment,” she said.
About St. Charles Health System
St. Charles Health System, Inc., headquartered in Bend, Oregon, owns and operates the St. Charles medical centers in Bend and Redmond, leases and operates Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Prineville and provides management services for Mountain View Hospital in Madras. SCHS is a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation and is the largest employer in Central Oregon with more than 3,000 caregivers in Bend, Redmond and Prineville. In addition, there are more than 350 active medical staff members and nearly 200 visiting medical staff members who partner with SCHS to provide a wide range of care and service to our communities.
