Ensuring patient comfort is a key element of nursing assistant practice. Excessive noise interferes with patient comfort, and patients in all areas of the hospital benefit from a reduction in noise. This program discusses noise in a 19th century hospital versus noise in a 21st century healthcare facility plus causes and effects of noise in the hospital. Also covered are approaches to take to reduce noise on the nursing unit and what makes an effective noise control program.

The learning objectives of this program are:
1. Compare and contrast causes and effects of noise in the 19th century hospital with healthcare facilities in the 21st century.
2. Identify the range of human hearing and state the WHO, EPA, and OSHA recommendations for hospital noise.
3. List the effects of excessive noise on patients and staff.
4. Describe what nursing studies have shown is occurring with the noise levels in healthcare facilities and explain why this information is important.
5. List approaches nursing assistants can take to reduce noise on the nursing unit.
6. State the purpose of the "Yacker Tracker" and briefly describe how it works.