[Noise exposure assessment among nurses in Qom educational hospitals in 2012, Iran]

Hospitals are important and vital centers for public services,which their nature of activity and type of provided services, require a calm and silent environment. This study was done to evaluate noise exposure dose among nurses of 6 hospitals in Qom city. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 12 nurses working in 6 educational hospitals affiliated to Qom University of Medical Sciences were selected randomly at the first stage. To assess the noise exposure level, two calibrated dosimeters [TES model, Taiwan] were used. In the second stage, demographic data such as age, sex, years of employment, daily working hours, etc. were collected using a questionnaire. Finally, the data were analyzed using central statistical indices, frequency distribution, one-way ANOVA and Duncan's test at the significance level of less than 0.05. In this study, in all the studied hospitals, the level of noise exposure was higher than permissible limit. On the other hand, the received noise dose was significantly higher in the emergency, obstetrics and gynecology, and infectious wards [alpha<0.05]. Also, most of the noise sources were reported respectively for ventilators, serum pumps, and suction apparatus and other sources, such as the sound of air conditioning systems, incubators, etc. were in the second priority. The sounds of these devices were at the conversation frequencies [500-3000 Hz]. The results of this study showed that noise levels were higher than permissible limit in various wards of the hospitals, Therefore, intervention programs to control and reduce noise pollution in the hospital could be implemented in a prioritized way through a study by analysis of the causes and patterns of sound production.