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Squeaking carts, banging doors, overhead announcements, call bells, voices at the nurses’ station, patients in distress:  it’s no secret that hospital units can be loud at night.

I remember speaking to a patient with a newly-diagnosed critical illness. She was scared and worried about what was happening to her. During the day, tests and other activities distracted her. But lying sleepless at night, surrounded by ringing monitor alarms and beeping IV pumps, listening to the confused elderly woman in the bed next to her call out for her husband, her anxiety about her condition was overwhelming.

She told me, “The people who worked on the unit were talking through the night about what was happening in their lives. I just wanted to say, ‘Shhh. Quiet everyone. People here are sick and need to sleep!’”

Fortunately, I’ve never spent a night in hospital as a patient. But I’ve worked many nights and this scenario is familiar.

Noise from many sources can keep patients awake, leaving them exhausted in the morning. It’s consistently one of the top reasons patients and their families tell us they were unsatisfied with their care.

In 2012, a team at The Ottawa Hospital found noise levels at night on a General Campus unit averaged 76 decibels – as loud as busy traffic.

We know there’s a direct link between sleep and healing, and that our staff are committed to excellent care. Let’s help our patients get the rest they need.

Dr. Debra Bournes
Chief Nursing Executive and Vice-President of Clinical Programs

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