The effect of education given to nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit on the noise level of the unit and nurses' awareness levels

This study was carried out as a pretest-posttest semi-experimentally with 36 nurses working in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of İzmir Tepecik Training and Research Hospital between July 2018 and September 2018 in order to examine the effect of education given to nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit on the noise level of neonatal intensive care unit and nurses' awareness levels. In order to gain awareness of noise, a training program was created in 4 sessions within 1 week. The training program was carried out in an interactive manner and collar badges were distributed to strengthen. The average of 24-hour noise levels was recorded with a decibel meter, gave a light warning when the noise level increased, before and 14 days after the training program. Before and after the training, the questionnaire was applied to nurses and their knowledge and awareness about noise were examined. The data were evaluated by Mcnemar Test, Wilcoxon Test, Independent Sample T Test, percentage distributions, standard deviation and mean values. It was determined that 63,9% of nurses were undergraduate, 77,7% of them worked in neonatal intensive care unit for 2-9 years and 75% of them had education about newborn. After education, the rate of knowing the international noise level increased and this increase was found statistically significant (p = 0,02). According to the nurses, it was found that the hours with the highest noise level were nursing care hours (EO = 69,4% ES = 83,3%), the newborn noise (EO = 94,4% ES = 100%) and the health workers (EO = 86% 1 ES = 97,2%). The average noise level after training decreased 1,4 decibels compared to the pre-education level and this decrease was statistically significant (p = 0,023). Regular measurement of noise in neonatal intensive care units, training of employees on the subject and ensuring continuity are effective methods to reduce noise in neonatal intensive care units. Key Words: NICU, NICU nurses, noise level, education programe