Noise peaks influence communication in the operating room. An observational study

Abstract

for their help in study administration and data collection; Mark Brink for advice on noise measures; Brigitte Dubach (head nurse) and Uwe Klopsch (technician), for their help in organizational and technical issues.

Noise levels in veterinary operating rooms and factors that contribute to their variations

“…Elevations in OR noise during surgery has also been found to correlate with the incidence of surgical site infections in man . These findings may reflect lapses in surgeons' concentration and associated prolonged duration of surgery . Engelmann et al implemented a program in a pediatric OR suite to decrease noise levels from 63 to 59 decibels, which was associated with a decrease in postoperative surgical site infections and complications.…”

“…4,10,15,25 These findings may reflect lapses in surgeons' concentration and associated prolonged duration of surgery. 4,10,15,[24][25][26][27][28] Engelmann et al 15 implemented a program in a pediatric OR suite to decrease noise levels from 63 to 59 decibels, which was associated with a decrease in postoperative surgical site infections and complications. A similar noise reduction program in veterinary OR could possibly lead to similar results.…”

New technical solution to minimise noise exposure for surgical staff: the ‘silent operating theatre optimisation system’

“…However, multiple team members shouting is known to escalate the situation noise level, making understanding even more difficult 22 24. Keller et al showed that the exchange of information that is directly linked to the task at hand is, in fact, the most harmed 25. With SOTOS, building flexible selected communication groups that digitally defines need-to-hear/need-to-be-heard team members, unwanted and distracting conversations are blended out (figures 4 and 5).…”

Killer Apps: Developing Novel Applications That Enhance Team Coordination, Communication, and Effectiveness

“…Groupies are particularly interested in how team members implicitly and explicitly coordinate their behaviors, decisions, and performance (e.g., Burtscher, Kolbe, Wacker, & Manser, 2011 ; Tschan et al, 2006 , 2009 ) and under which conditions team members point out errors in the procedure that might be crucial for safety reasons and ultimately have adverse or even mortal consequences for patients ( Kolbe et al, 2014 ). For example, group researchers have meticulously analyzed video-recorded anesthesia and surgical teams to understand how noise affects communication processes in the operating room ( Keller et al, 2016 ), how behavioral interaction patterns differ between high- and low-performance groups ( Kolbe et al, 2014 ), how teams’ shared understanding of the operational task moderates the relationship between monitoring behaviors and team performance ( Burtscher et al, 2011 ), and how they have classified the sheer amount of communication failures that might jeopardize patient safety ( Lingard et al, 2004 ). Therefore, from a Groupie perspective, a killer app could serve to point out problems in implicit and explicit behavioral coordination between team members, track frequencies of verbal exchange between team members, highlight if team members’ attention decreases, and even reduce overall team workload by monitoring inaccurate behavioral actions of team members.…”