Nr 452 White Noise Barriers Research Paper

The clutter in the hallway needs to be addressed for the safety of patients, visitors, and nursing staff. This will also improve the efficiency of the staff by removing barriers to traffic flow. The nursing staff will be able to

Alarm fatigue is a growing national problem within the health care industry that links medical technology as a serious hazard that poses a significant threat to patient safety within hospitals across the country. Alarm fatigue occurs when nurses encounter an overwhelming amount of alarms thus becoming desensitized to the firing alarms. Alarm desensitization is a multifaceted issue that is related to the number of alarming medical devices, a high false alarm rate, and the lack of alarm standardization in hospitals today (Cvach, 2012). Desensitization can lead to delayed response times, alarms silenced or turned off, or alarms adjusted to unsafe limits, which can create a dangerous situation for the patient. Alarm fatigue

Effective communication is crucial aspect of nursing yet too often is placed low on the priority list, especially at shift change. Information related to the care of patients is frequently disseminated at a crowded, noisy nurse station with several nurses rushing to leave and others attempting to get the information necessary to plan care and limit the constant distractions. It is this interaction that allows for information vital patient safety information to be communicated including the acuity of patients.

Answering the call light (also called call bell a handheld like that is attached to the patient room wall, above the headboard of the bed) in a timely manner by the nursing staff in hospital setting is necessary to prevent falls that can harm, prolonged stays, and unnecessarily increase the cost of healthcare. However, researches concerning call light uses as it relates to patient safety, patient-care management and patient satisfaction are limited (Meade et al. 2006). Patients and their families emphasize that nurses should monitor patients constantly and provide assistance and answer a call light in a timely manner (Yoder, 2011). Note that the falls may be caused by several factors such as

Patients depend on healthcare professionals through the use of call lights. Many different factors can affect a patient’s ability to function independently such as “cognitive impairments, visual loss, and decreased mobility” patients turn to call lights for assistance (Huey-Ming, 2010). Unfortunately, if a nurse or certified nursing assistant is occupied risks occur and can ultimately lead to injuries of patients due to help not received at that given moment. In the journal titled Perspectives of Patients and Families About the Nature of and Reasons for Call Light Use and Staff Call Light Response Time written by Huey- Ming Tzeng, patients felt “staff responsiveness to call lights often affect nurse-patient communication, patient

A common goal all healthcare providers share, is the desire to provide excellent patient care. The delivery of care is constantly changing in healthcare, however, the patient will continue to remain the focus of care. The success of nursing care thrives off the ability to fulfill patient needs and to maintain patient safety and satisfaction. When patients are admitted to the hospital, their need for an increase in their level of care and attention, due to the decline in their health status, and inability to preform normal daily activities of daily living. The loss of independence places the patient in a vulnerable state of mind, causing the individual to rely on members of the healthcare team to assist with basic self-care needs while in a stable and well-organized environment. A structured environment can be accomplished through the practice of hourly rounding on all patients.

The findings found that nurses felt irritated with inappropriate alarm settings and the high volume of noise on unit, resulting in delays in response times. False alarms were the main culprit in the nurses' opinions. The interventions supplied by the article were individualizing alarm limits, buddying systems, a charge nurse making rounds, and the development of smart alarms with algorithms that cover multiple conditions (Christensen et al., 2014).

As unfortunate as this may be, many companies are in the healthcare industry for no other reason than to turn a profit. While this doesn’t mean a patient will receive inadequate care, it is hard for employees to buy into the culture of “Radical Caring Love” when the major concern is always the bottom dollar. When employees do not buy in to the culture of healing then they become unconcerned if a loud phone is constantly ringing, or if a another nurse’s patient has had a call light on for ten minutes. Some other obstacles would be location and age of the building. Many inner-city hospitals are located in the heart of some very unsavory neighborhoods, and while everyone deserves the same quality of care it is hard to promote a healing environment when patient family members are afraid to get out of their locked car. Not to mention that many of these buildings are old and lack advances in technology that allows a patient to feel safe and secure about the care they are receiving and keeps them waiting on tests to be performed of results to be given.

It is my personal belief that environment plays a considerable role in the patient’s short term and long-term wellbeing. When nurses acknowledge the environment that the patient is interacting in while receiving their care we know this greatly impacts the overall successfulness of the care plan. The patient’s feelings must be

Despite many efforts to improve staffing numbers, there is often still a staff shortage among staff in hospitals and acute care settings. While the most obvious solution to short staffing is to hire more nurses, there are also other ways to make staffing more effective. A patient acuity tool is a staffing instrument that can be used to decide how much time and attention each individual patient requires. By knowing the acuity level of each patient, charge nurses can decide how many patients each nurse can be assigned to at a time. This essay describes the way a patient acuity instrument improves healthcare outcomes by promoting patient-centered care and improving on key nurse competencies including teamwork and collaboration, quality improvement, and safety measures.

In the context of nursing, noise involves such unnecessary noise that creates an expectation that it is hurting a patient. It can be said that it is the loudness of the noise affecting the ear, which seems to be affecting the sick people. It is asserted that a patient

Barry Hill (2017) performed studies related to the quality of care that patients receive and what factors are associated with those perceptions. One area that was noted to be of importance and directly related to quality of care provided to patients is staff dissatisfaction and burnout. This study also found that longer shifts contributed to increased amounts of emotional exhaustion leading to decreased quality of care for patients. Addressing staffing needs early and intervening can decrease the amount of nurse burnout and dissatisfaction that is often seen. This study has shown that hiring additional competent nurses reduces medication errors, falls, infections, wounds, and decreases hospital litigation costs, while improving staff morale, patient experience and care, and cost-effectiveness for the hospital.

Healthcare has become a consumer driven industry with patient satisfaction equating to good customer service. Effective communication has been shown to be a key factor in both patient outcomes and satisfaction. Additionally, patient satisfaction has become a tool used by insurers to evaluate medical facilities and may impact reimbursement to hospitals for patient care. In this paper, I will discuss the issue of ineffective communication in the waiting area of the surgical services department at Mount Carmel East Hospital. The impact of ineffective communication effects patients and members of the perioperative team. Results of patient surveys

When admitted to a hospital patients may feel they have little control over their situation and the surrounding environment. Using a call bell to meet their needs is perhaps one of a few things that gives patients a feeling that they still have some control. The title of the article Dance of the Call Bells: Using Ethnography to Evaluate Patient Satisfaction with Quality of Care, suggests that the key phenomenon of the study was the evaluation of patients’ satisfaction with quality of care they received in terms of their experience in the use of call bells (Deitrick, Bokovoy, Glenn, & Panik, 2006). The title did not describe the population, group or community under study, other than stating that the population was “patients”. The title did not state that phenomenon was also looked at and analyzed through perspectives of family members and staff, nor did it mention that the study was done on a med-surgical unit.

One of the many goals of the nursing profession is to provide high-quality, safe patient care. There are many responsibilities that come with a nursing career and when the nurse to patient ratio increases, there is a possibility that it may hinder the safe care that patients deserve, and this may result in negative patient outcomes and level of satisfaction. Staffing is one of the many issues that healthcare facilities face. In many facilities, there never seems to be enough nurses per shift to provide high quality, thorough patient care which often leads to burnt out staff, and frustrated patients and families. This review discusses the findings of quantitative studies and one systematic review that involves patient outcomes in relation to nurse staffing.