This article is attributed to its original article written by Jenny Ivy Byrne in Healthcare Construction & Operations on August 7, 2014. 

BOSTON – Hospital settings can be intimidating for children. Machines, equipment, alarms and general hospital noises increase the need for acoustic and environmental solutions to promote a healing environment for young patients.

Completed in 2013 and formally dedicated on June 3, 2014, the James Mandell Building at Boston Children’s Hospital is the latest major children’s treatment facility to showcase patient rooms outfitted for maximum comfort especially for longer hospital stays. The 10-story urban infill building provides expansion space for the emergency department, imaging, same day surgery, neurology, pharmacy and four floors of new inpatient beds.

…Boston-based architectural firm Payette needed to find a way to complete the structure without disrupting patient comfort during and after construction. The firm teamed with Cambridge, Mass.-based Acentech to provide acoustics consultation during construction and for the building’s interior after completion.

“It’s standard practice for newly constructed hospitals and medical centers to be mindful of noise and vibration issues during construction as well as upon completion as per the newer FGI Guidelines on noise in hospitals,” said Benjamin Davenny, senior consultant in acoustics at Acentech. “This project is a new building for Boston Children’s Hospital as well as the dense, urban Longwood medical area in Boston. Reducing noise emissions to neighboring buildings was a challenge, as noise sources were at the property line and there was no buffer over which noise could dissipate.”

…Noise transmission solutions were also recently examined in Arizona. The Phoenix Children’s Hospital studied decibel levels in the neonatal intensive care unit and found that the level of background noise was affecting the hearing of premature infants. Deb. Green, RN, a nurse manager at the hospital’s cardiovascular intensive care unit, and Brent Lang, president and COO for Vocera Communications in San Jose, Calif., provided five ways to reduce noise levels in an April 2013 article published for the Healthcare Financial Management Association. They include the use of rubber flooring instead of tile, alarms that don’t buzz at the patient’s bedside, reducing the audible impact through room design, staff members reducing noise and eliminating the use of overhead pages…

To read the full article, please visit HCONEWS.com.