Improving Patient Satisfaction through Noise Reduction Activities Essay

Improving Patient Satisfaction through Noise Reduction Activities - Essay Example It increases stress levels, heart rate and risk of cardiac problems, disrupts sleep, produces confusion, affects cognitive function, alters hormone levels, and reduces the confidence of patients on their caregivers (Call, 2007). Shelton (2000) also points out that environmental noise and its possible effects on healing and the rate of recovery of hospitalized patients is a special concern to nurses. At the same time, it has been found that healthcare givers functioning in a noisy environment are vulnerable to irritability, depression, exhaustion and burnout. The purpose of the program or project Improvement of Patient Satisfaction through Noise Reduction Activities is a quality improvement initiative. The purpose of this project is to enhance patient-satisfaction scores by 20% within a period of six months. To achieve this, the project aims at evaluating the impacts of the most common sources of excessive noise within the hospital environment and developing a long-term solution to the problem. The major sources of excessive noise that have been identified in the hospital environment include nursing activities during the day, evening and night and, talking and laughing by visitors, employees, other patients and occasionally, construction.