CSI Project

Quiet Is Coming

Ochsner Baptist (New Orleans, Louisiana)

CSI Summary

Available only to registered AACN.org users.

Summary

CSI Presentation

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Presentation

CSI Toolkit

Available only to users with a paid AACN membership.

Toolkit

Added to Collection

Project Topic

Noise reduction

Hospital Unit

Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit

CSI Participants

Kristin Billiot, BSN, RN, CCRN
Amanda Hall, BSN, RN, CCRN
Joshua Montgomery, BSN, RN
Jaime Taylor, AD, RN, CCRN

Project Goals/Objectives

  1. To decrease delirium
  2. To promote a healing and peaceful environment
  3. To improve patient and staff satisfaction

Project Outcomes

  1. Decreased noise on the unit
  2. Increased patient and staff satisfaction by creating a quieter environment on the unit

Project Overview

Since there is no step-down unit in our hospital, we tend to keep patients in the ICU longer than some hospitals might. Given that being in an ICU increases the risk of delirium, our CSI team wanted to tackle some issues related to promoting a more peaceful and healing environment, to help decrease delirium and hospital length of stay.

We renovated the unit, created standardized quiet times, adjusted alarm volumes and purchased new clocks. We also educated the staff on these initiatives and other new practices we implemented, such as providing eye masks and ear plugs to the patients. To assess our efforts, our team used monitors to measure noise in the unit before and after implementing the changes. We were thrilled to see a decrease in the amount of noise on the unit after launching our new initiatives. Patient and staff satisfaction regarding the amount of noise also improved.

Permission to Reuse Materials
The materials associated with this AACN Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy project are the property of the participating hospital noted above, not AACN. Requests to use content contained in the CSI team’s summary, presentation or toolkit should be directed to the hospital. We suggest reaching out to the hospital’s Communications, Marketing or Nursing Education department for assistance.

Disclaimer
The AACN CSI Academy program supports change projects based on quality improvement methods. Although CSI teams seek to ensure linkage between their project and clinical/fiscal outcomes, data cannot be solely attributed to the project and are estimations of impact.