Assessing the influence of noise levels on medication errors of nurses in a hospital in Kashan, Iran

Noise exposure can impact nurses' performance and may result in disruptions to their tasks. This study aimed to examine the correlation between the average equivalent sound level and the occurrence of medication errors.

This cross-sectional study involved 150 nurses in Iran in 2020. First, two medical and two surgical wards were randomly selected using a coin toss method. Second, the nurses who worked in those wards were sampled using the convenience method. Nurses' medication errors were assessed using a questionnaire. A sound level meter was used to measure the sound level in decibel. Data were analyzed using analytical tests, including Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman correlation coefficient, and Poisson model.

The mean sound equivalent level in the cardio-respiratory internal ward (58.94 ± 1.88) was higher than the same level in the other internal and surgical wards (p < 0.001). An increase in the mean sound equivalent level in the wards was accompanied by an increase in the mean number of medication errors among unmarried individuals (e0.22 = 1.25), which was 1.25 times more than the errors made by married individuals. Finally, an increase in age and the mean sound equivalent level resulted in the occurrence of medication errors (p < 0.002).  

The results showed that there was no relationship between the sound pressure level and nurses’ medication errors in the research environment. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more studies to investigate the factors that increase the incidence of medication errors.