ArticleORL-head and neck nursing : official journal of the Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Nurses2025
Creating Clarity Amid the Operating Room Clamor: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Noise-Related Barriers and Facilitators to Effective Communication.
Article in ORL-head and neck nursing : official journal of the Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Nurses, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Workflow-dependent noise peaks and exposure assessment in operating rooms: implications for occupational risk.Annals of work exposures and health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Background: The operating room is one of the noisiest healthcare environments, creating critical challenges for patient safety, team efficiency, and surgical outcomes. Operating room nurses, essential for patient care and team coordination, face unique risks from noise exposure and impaired communication, yet their challenges remain underexplored. Objective: To assess hearing challenges and communication barriers in operating room teams from nurses' perspectives, with implications for patient safety and interventions. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: An electronic survey was distributed to operating room personnel, examining hearing difficulties, communication barriers, and current solutions using multiple-choice, Likert-scale, and open-ended formats. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed via descriptive statistics and summative thematic analysis. Results: Among 225 participants, 51 were nurses (23%), with 25% reporting hearing loss, 63% no hearing loss, and 12% uncertain. All nurses with baseline hearing loss reported auditory challenges in the operating room, while half without hearing loss reported frequent struggles during surgery (p<.0021). Nurses with > 5 years' operating room exposure had over 5-fold risk of hearing loss (95% confidence interval: 1.3-21.2; p=0.028). Noise from suction devices, alarms, and music hindered communication. Self-accommodations included asking for repetition (62%) and modifying the environment (32%). Nearly all respondents (96%) emphasized improving communication, supporting ambient noise reduction, technology, or behavioral interventions like closed-loop communication. Conclusions: Operating room nurses, central to surgical safety and team efficiency, are disproportionately impacted by noise-related communication challenges. Their dual role positions them to lead the implementation of targeted noise mitigation and communication strategies, driving critical improvements in the surgical environment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
40453790PMC12123702What OpenQuestion holds
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.