Operating Room Noise May Hinder Surgeons’ Concentration

If you are due for surgery soon, you don’t really want to consider the possibility that doctors and nurses in the operating room may not be able to communicate well with each other. However, a new study finds that it doesn’t take much to cause communication errors during a complex surgery. Mere background noise, such as conversations with nurses or even the sounds of surgical equipment and tools, can be sufficient to distract a doctor and interfere with speech comprehension skills.

The Journal of the American College of Surgeons recently published the results of the study. The researchers recruited a team of 15 surgeons, who were placed in a simulated noise environment. The noise in this environment was very similar to the kind of noise that a surgeon might hear in an operating room. The surgeons were then given certain tasks to measure their ability to comprehend speech.

They had to understand and repeat words under different noise conditions – a quiet environment, light noise filtered through a surgical mask, background noise without music, and background noise with music. They had to understand and repeat the words in this environment while performing a specific surgical task.

The researchers found that the surgeons’ ability to comprehend speech was definitely affected by the noise in the operating room. Background music also had a negative effect on the surgeons’ ability to understand words said to them.

The results of the study are very distressing, because failure to understand what is being said, or any kind of communication breakdown in the operating room, increases the risk of surgical errors, with potentially serious consequences.

The medical malpractice lawyers at Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC represent victims of medical negligence by doctors, nurses, technicians, and other medical personnel in Seattle and across Washington.

Source:

• www.medscape.com/viewarticle/804176