title: Noise at night in hospital general wards: a mapping of the literature.
abstract: English NHS inpatient surveys consistently identify that noise at night in hospitals and its impact on patients' sleep is a persisting problem that needs addressing. To identify how noise at night in hospital affects patients on general wards and the range of interventions aimed at reducing the problem, a systematic mapping of the literature was undertaken. All primary studies and relevant literature published January 2003-July 2013 were included. Key issues identified in the literature included noise levels and causes, impact on patient experience, and lack of staff awareness. Interventions to reduce noise were targeted at staff education, behaviour modification, care organisation and environmental solutions. The scoping suggested that when compared with specialist units, there is little evidence on effective interventions reducing disturbance from night-time noise on general wards. The available evidence suggests a whole systems approach should be adopted to aid quality sleep and promote recovery.
authors.affiliation: Senior Research Nurse, Borthwick Diabetes & Research Centre, East and North Herts NHS Trust, Stevenage.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fillary
authors.forename: Hema
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chaplin
authors.forename: Gill
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holme
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012890:Sleep; D013222:State Medicine; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Hospital design and construction; Noise; Nursing interventions; Patient satisfaction; Sleep