assulting my ears

[adrienurse, LPN]

deleted

[bellehill, RN]

Noise is one of the reasons I work night shift, I can't stand the chaos and noise from day shift. Hats of to all of you who can.

Adrienurse, some days are better than others, sorry you are having a bad streak. Just try to remember we may very well be in the same situation. only as a pt. Keep your chin up!

[ptnurse]

Have to work days tomorrow and dread it. I too prefer nights. It is just WILD during the day on my unit. Too many people, too much noise. At least it is the weekend. That will cut down on the number of people around. (especially staff ). Have worked short on the weekends so long I would not know how to act with a full staff anymore.

[traumarns]

try working icu.

the vents, monitors, the call bells, and the never ending phone calls.

my favorite are the nurses who refuse to turn OFF the irregular heart rate alarm even though the pt is in afib, and is being treated.

drives me absolutely banannas!

[Sleepyeyes]

One of the things that helped me to learn that things CAN change was a situation just like this.

The noise echoed so badly nobody could think; the LOL's would just escalate themselves and each other.

I suggested that the facility put a rug at the nurse's station and the common area surrounding it, since rugs tend to absorb noise. The sounds were echoing off the tile floors and walls.

To my amazement, it was done and it helped. Rugs can also be used on walls to deaden the decibels.

:)

[Youda]

Alzheimers and dementia patients always respond to their environment. So, the problem here, most likely, is that your unit has become too stressed and chaotic for these people to deal with, too. So, they respond in the ways you are describing. It's going to be your goal and challenge to figure out what is agitating and stressing out your unit. Do you have an aide who is being too rough? Do you have an aide who isn't trained in how to treat these folks so he/she is demeaning to them and they are upset? Find the problem, whatever it is. Are your patients just picking up your own stress and mood?

Start by lowering your own voices. Walk slowly and relaxed (yeah, that's a stretch when you are stressed yourself, but try it anyway). Put on quiet mood music. Get activities to come in and do some exercises with them to use up some of their own energy. Take a bread machine to work and bake bread because the smells or "home" will often quiet them, and you can also feed them the bread when done, and deal with weight loss, too. The point is that YOU are reacting to the problem instead of finding interventions FOR the problem! :) :) :)

[dhenceroth]

Some nurses can't seem to tolerate it being quiet. When I worked in ICU on night shift, it drove me crazy when some nurses would always turn the TV on (to MTV, etc.) in rooms w/ unresponsive patients. Due to the nature of the unit, there is not much difference between night and day, however whenever possible, I tried to make it quiet at night.

[Sleepyeyes]

Originally posted by Youda

Alzheimers and dementia patients always respond to their environment. So, the problem here, most likely, is that your unit has become too stressed and chaotic for these people to deal with, too. So, they respond in the ways you are describing. It's going to be your goal and challenge to figure out what is agitating and stressing out your unit. Do you have an aide who is being too rough? Do you have an aide who isn't trained in how to treat these folks so he/she is demeaning to them and they are upset? Find the problem, whatever it is. Are your patients just picking up your own stress and mood?

Start by lowering your own voices. Walk slowly and relaxed (yeah, that's a stretch when you are stressed yourself, but try it anyway). Put on quiet mood music. Get activities to come in and do some exercises with them to use up some of their own energy. Take a bread machine to work and bake bread because the smells or "home" will often quiet them, and you can also feed them the bread when done, and deal with weight loss, too. The point is that YOU are reacting to the problem instead of finding interventions FOR the problem! :) :) :)

Excellent ideas, Youda!!

And it's true; i always noticed total chaos on the units one particular nurse worked, where another would have complete calm.....

well worth checking this out....

[nimbex, RN]

I donated one of those mini water "tranquility" fountains to our breakroom. Staff even goes in for 5 minutes, closes the door and relaxes, listening to the fountain....

last discussion... as nurse stated they were bringing in a tape of the ocean water.

They love the few minutes of peace.... which is a NEEDED de-stresser in a stressful day

[aimeee, BSN, RN]

I know just what you mean, Adrienurse! That kind of uproar easily spirals out of control. One place to start is with the televisions...ask the staff to turn them off or down wherever possible. I can't tell you how many times I have found demented patients in front of them, volume up full, disturbing shows with gunshots, sirens, etc. One of the best days I ever had in LTC was when the power was out...generator power only meant no blaring TV's or extra noise. I had to test the call lights myself because I was afraid they weren't working....nope, they worked just fine, just somehow removing all that noise pollution made everyone so much calmer.

[BadBird, BSN, RN]

I just hate noise pollution, I can handle the necessary noise but it seems that the smaller the nurse the louder the mouth. I just keep busy with my patients and don't get involved in the constant chatter, I don't know if some of them have no one to talk to when not at work so they try to make up for it.

The confused elderly patients can get on your nerves but at least they can't help it. I found that when I bathe them or give a back rub that helps calm the patient down. I also put on the weather channel because it plays soothing music and it seems that the elderly love to hear about the weather, it helps them with orientation as to day and time too.