Light and Sound Consideration in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Light and sound are potential sources of harm in neonate. Excessive light has been theorized to cause retinal damage, sleep pattern disturbance, disturbance of circadian rhythms, and poor growth. Physiologic responses to excessive sound demonstrated as fluctuations in heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation. The aim of the present study was to investigate nursing care conformity rate with existing standards, regarding to light and sound in NICU. In this cross sectional study, 312 nursing care regarding light and sound were observed and assessed in Amirkola Children and Ayatollah Roohani hospitals of Babol, Iran. Data was gathered by the checklist (14 items) that was designed according to existing standards included standard care regarding light and sound. Total score of nursing care regard to light and sound considerations was 54.17%. The most conformity rate with standards was in “no writing and tapping on incubators” item (93.3%). The lowest conformity rate was in “applying daily silence periods” item (12.5%). The results showed that over 50% of nursing care regard to light and sound was considered in NICU, so informing health providers, physical standards and providing facilities and equipment are recommended.