Introduction
Florence Nightingale describes needless noise as ‘the most cruel absence of care that can be inflicted either on sick or well’, in her book Notes on Nursing. Nightingale’s thoughts about the environment, nursing, and a person were generally grounded in experience. It is for this reason that she considered the most reliable way of obtaining and verifying knowledge to be through a person’s sense of observation. In most cases, the word noise arouses the feelings of apprehension and chaos. In clinical settings, these feelings can further worsen an illness. Even though Florence Nightingale warned against “unnecessary noise” in regards to healing and health, she emphasized the need to differentiate between necessary and unnecessary noise. NR501 Noise Concept Analysis Essay
Based on the distinctions available, it is debatable as to whether necessary noise can be used to promote healing and good health in clinical settings. To distinguish the perception of noise further, Nightingale noted that what may be noise to one person may not necessarily be noise to another person. With Walker’s and Avant’s eight-step process of concept analysis, this paper analyzes the concept of noise using Katharine Kolcaba’s comfort theory. The definition of noise, comprehensive review of literature, defining attributes, antecedents, consequences and empirical referents will be provided. A model case, borderline case, and contrary case will also be provided to illustrate each of the defining attributes of noise. This analysis is essential for advancing theory development in nursing clinical practice, research and education.
Uses and Definition of the Concept
The word noise initially originated from the word ‘nausea’ which is a Latin word for seasickness. Although the word ‘nausea’ has gradually evolved since the 13th century to the present day ‘noise’ with different spellings and pronunciations, its meaning is the same. The Oxford English Dictionary defines noise as sound the can be perceived and evaluated either as a subject or an object. NR501 Noise Concept Analysis Essay. Even although its quantification as a dual concept is possible, a lot of literature discusses noise as a subjective concept.
Katharine Kolcaba explains comfort as an essential need for everyone for ease, relief or transcendence due to stressful healthcare issues. The comfort theory emphasizes on the four meta paradigms of nursing which include the social, physical, environmental and psychospiritual aspects to reduce tension and anxiety (Boudiab & Kolcaba, 2015). Therefore, in the context of noise as a form of stimulus that causes stress, anxiety, tension and slows healing, the comfort theory can be used by nurses to implement necessary interventions to promote a healing environment and ensure that the outcome of comfort is attained NR501 Noise Concept Analysis Essay.
Literature Review
Basner et al., (2014), explain that although noise is generally considered as disruptive, it is however dependent on individual perception. In community and clinical settings, noise as heard by families, patients and even healthcare staff originate from a combination of mechanical and human sounds. Beutel et al., (2016) shares similar sentiments by acknowledging that, with the advancement in technology over the years, medical device systems have also evolved for use in monitoring patients for specific problems in the clinical setting, contributing to noisy environments. Similarly, according to Katz (2014), with the gradually growing number of patients who require monitoring through modern medical technology, an increase in necessary and unnecessary noise in clinical settings should be expected. This, therefore, triggers the issue of noise as a vital concern among nurses.
Noise is acknowledged as a major contributor to nurse’s environmental distractions which hinder their ability to provide critical care, to effectively handle their responsibilities and achieve desired health outcomes (Wang et al., 2014). Thus, noise has emerged as a significant concept in nursing and is also a focus of the National Patient Safety Goal. According to a report by The Joint Commission, between the years 2009-2012, there were reports of 98 noise-related events. Of this, 80 resulted in deaths, 14 led to permanent loss of cognition and five resulted in prolonged hospital stays (West & Abbott, 2014). Majority of these incidences were linked to unnecessary noise from the misuse of alarms and malfunctioning alarms. NR501 Noise Concept Analysis Essay
Attributes
The most evident defining attributes of noise as evidence
Order this paper