Observational study of noise in the operating theatre.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Analysis of the impacts of music and sound in the operating theatre on team working: an observational study.
IRAS ID
233536
Contact name
Ian Wrench
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
BACKGROUND:
The operating theatre can be a very noisy place with sounds from equipment, the ventilation, people talking and background music. There has been very little research done as to what level of noise is optimal, which type of noise is particularly unhelpful and whether background music is a good or a bad thing. If we can find out how noise and music affect staff performance in the operating theatre then we could use this information to improve working practices such as communication and team working.AIMS:
We want to find out how different types and levels of noise in the operating theatre affect how well staff work together and communicate with each other and how it affects things such as mood.METHODOLOGY:
This is an observational study which means that we will simply observe what is happening in the operating theatre without changing anything. We will only be looking at brain and spine surgery because we know that there are a variety of different durations of surgery and sources and types of sound in theatre. We will video-record operations so that we can analyse the recordings afterwards which will make it easier to relate what is happening in theatre to sounds that were going on at the time. We will destroy the video-recordings once we have completed our analysis of them. We will also ask the theatre staff present during each operation to complete questionnaires about their attitudes to music and noise among other things.MAIN EXPECTED OUTCOME:
We will assess the effect of background sound on team working in the operating theatre.IMPLICATIONS:
The knowledge that we gain from this study should allow us to improve working practices, training and theatre design with respect to the sound environment.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0564
Date of REC Opinion
28 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion