Name That Tune

In my role as supervisor, I watch the hospital world from a new perspective.

As noise levels get out of control, I marvel at how nurses keep their sanity.

Have you ever sat back and listened to your unit?

The cacophony hits me as I walk into the chaos. I watch as staff respond to the sounds of different shapes and sizes. Without a conscious thought, they process from where the sounds come and what they mean.

I reflect on the many different mechanical sounds in an emergency department.

The bedside bell system, for starters, has two different rings. The hospital fire alarm also has two. Monitors ring out different beeps for different functions. Is that about three or four more?

Then there are the medication pumps and the mini infusers.

Telephones ring along with ambulance phones. Fax machines hum and beep and the tube system bongs.

What about the thermometers? Buzzers signaling help come from triage. A ping or two from the computer. The beepers of the many who each choose their favourite tune or sound. And, oh my, the cell phones with their chosen songs or tones.

What have I missed?

I remember the feeling of control I got of knowing all those sounds.

The constant bombardment of sound, minute after minute, hour after hour. The stress of being 'tuned in' is difficult to measure.

What toll does this need for discernment and fine-tuned awareness take on us?

© Kathy Knowles and Linda Bridge

BY KATHY KNOWLES, RN AND LINDA BRIDGE, RN

Copyright Alberta Association of Registered Nurses Mar 2006
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