Ting-Ting Chang

Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan

Abstract Title:Quiet is Care: Implementing Sound-Sensitive Strategies in Wards to Improve PatientCentered Outcomes

Biography:

Biography: Ting-Ting Chang is a registered nurse at National Taiwan University Hospital with over 20 years of clinical experience in emergency, intensive care, and oncology nursing. She is passionate about nursing education, patient safety, and advancing clinical competency through simulationbased training.

Research Interest:

Hospital ward noise is a frequently overlooked factor that can significantly impact patient satisfaction, sleep quality, stress levels, and staff performance. In early 2023, a general ward at a medical center in Taiwan recorded low scores in patient satisfaction surveys, with “quietness of the environment” identified as the lowest-rated domain (76.9%). To address this, a multidisciplinary team launched a sound-sensitive improvement project. After identifying key noise sources, interventions were implemented across four domains: human voices, equipment alarms, environmental sounds, and policy gaps. Key strategies included preadmission education, environmental signage, staff training on communication etiquette, equipment noise control, and the elimination of non-essential nighttime audio sources. Noise levels and patient perceptions were measured before and after the intervention. The highest recorded noise level at the nurses’ station dropped from 112 dB to 56.3 dB—a 55.7% reduction. Patient satisfaction with environmental quietness improved from 76.9% to 83.9%. This project demonstrates that a targeted, sound-aware, multimodal strategy can significantly enhance inpatient experience and foster a healing-oriented care environment. These methods are feasible, scalable, and suitable for replication in general wards to support patient-centered outcomes. Keywords: Noise Reduction, Patient-Centered Care, Inpatient Satisfaction, Multimodal Intervention, Nursing Education