ReviewAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2021
The impact of noise in the operating theatre: a review of the evidence.
Review in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Long-term night shift work and cardiometabolic health in healthcare workers: a review of mechanisms and precision intervention strategies.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Operating Room Performance Optimization Metrics: a Systematic Review.Journal of medical systems · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of Operating Room Noise on Patient Outcomes and Medical Staff: A Systematic Review.Noise & healthPooled it
- Emergency department eCPR: an exploratory observational study of human factors.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Observational
- Workflow-dependent noise peaks and exposure assessment in operating rooms: implications for occupational risk.Annals of work exposures and health · 2026Article
- Surgeons' Perceptions on the Utility of a Conceptual Novel Force Sensor at the Surgeon-Tool Interface: Formative Interview Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- The overlooked burden: associations between high-noise environments and scrub nurse wellbeing and performance.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Identification of the Relationship Between Health Professionals' Managerial Attitudes and Distractions in the Operating Room: A Mixed Design Study.Journal of nursing management · 2026Article
- Does noise on my neonatal unit matter? Exploratory cross-sectional multiple cohort professional opinion survey study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Technology-based challenges of informal clinical communication in an Australian tertiary referral hospital: a survey-based assessment of user perspectives.BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- Reduction of Noise Levels During Caesarean Births Through Audiovisual Feedback is Associated With Lower Stress Levels for Patients.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2025Article
- Article
- Review
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of 2% Chlorhexidine Gluconate Skin Preparation Cloths for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infections in Adults Undergoing Spine Surgeries: Residual Reduction in Skin Bacterial Load for 4 Days.HCA healthcare journal of medicine · 2024Article
- Augmented reality during parotid surgery: real-life evaluation of voice control of a head mounted display.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2023Article
- Failed Attempt to Recommend Noise Cancelling Headphones for Knee Arthroplasty Surgeons-Results of a Pilot Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Association Between Operating Room Noise and Team Cognitive Workload in Cardiac Surgery.IEEE Conference on Cognitive and Computational Aspects of Situation Management (CogSIMA) · 2022Article
- Article
- Association between Operating Room Noise and Physiological and Psychological Status of Patients Undergoing Spinal Surgery.Noise & healthArticle
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionNoise has been recognised to have a negative impact on performance and wellbeing in many settings. Average noise levels have been found to range between 51dB and 79dB in operating theatres. Despite these levels of noise, there is little research investigating their effect on surgical team functioning.
methodsA literature review to look at the impact of noise in the operating theatre was performed on MEDLINE, which included the search terms 'noise' OR 'distraction' AND 'technical skill' OR 'Surgical skill' OR 'Operating Room'. Only 10 of 307 articles identified were deemed relevant.
findingsEight of ten studies found noise to be detrimental to communication and surgical performance, particularly regarding total errors and time to task completion. No studies found noise to be beneficial. Two studies found case-irrelevant verbal communication to be a frequent form of noise pollution in operating theatres; this is both perceived by surgeons to be distracting and delays patient care.
conclusionNoise and irrelevant verbal communications were both found to be harmful to surgical performance, surgeon experience and team functioning.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.