The Journey to Quietness is moving swiftly! UM Shore Regional Health’s core beliefs about Quietness are as follows:
- We honor and respect every patient’s need for quiet in all spaces, at all times of the day and in all care interactions.
- Every patient gets a restful night’s sleep, when their condition allows.
- We communicate our goal for a quiet, healing environment to every patient, family and visitor.
- We work together as a team to identify and eliminate sources of noise.
- We support and help each team member become better skilled in quiet, healing behavior.
- We focus and support reduction of noise in team member work areas.
- We hold ourselves and one another accountable for quiet standards.
- We actively seek best practices for quietness.
What does this mean for team members? With an official launch date of March 21, 2017, Quietness is one of several initiatives under the HEART umbrella designed to enhance the patient experience and also improve the overall environment in which we care for our patients, their families and each other.
According to Susan Coe, senior vice president and chief experience officer, research shows that in environments where a strong value is placed on quietness, staff have less stress during their work shifts and leave feeling less fatigued. “When those of us involved in developing plans for quietness saw how much it would benefit our staff as well as our patients and visitors, we became that much more excited about finding ways to reduce noise and foster a calmer, more peaceful care environment,” Coe says.
Here’s what to look for as Quietness takes hold in and around our hospitals and other facilities:
- Signage –– You will see “clings” and other signage in all facilities emphasizing the importance of quietness in promoting patient healing, in providing safe and effective patient care, and in enabling staff to perform their duties in a setting that is more calm and less stress-inducing. Stickers for patient folders, place mats for patient trays and screen savers for clinical computer stations are now in production to promote Quietness.
- Less Reliance on the Public Address (PA) System — The morning announcement will no longer be heard, and the PA system will no longer be used for the following: Codes Purple, Grey and Green, and Flight One. Additionally, codes that continued to be announced will be heard twice rather than three times, and voices will be modulated for all PA announcements to reduce volume/disruption.
- Quiet Hours –10 p.m. – 5 a.m. — All medical centers, Shore Emergency Center at Queenstown and Shore Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at Chestertown will begin official observation of Quiet Hours. Quiet Hours will be announced over the PA system — “It’s 10 p.m. — we are now observing Quiet Hours” — and in addition to reducing noise, many units will dim lights and take other measures to significantly reduce noise so that patients are able to get the sleep they need to heal.
- Unit Plans for Noise Reduction — All managers throughout UM Shore Regional Health have conducted noise assessments for their areas and are in the process of developing tailored plans to reduce excess noise.Keep reading Compass for more information about Quietness and the ways you can help make our facilities more peaceful settings in which to treat, care and heal.
Keep reading Compass for more information about Quietness and how we can all work together to enhance the patient experience at UM Shore Regional Health.