Development of easy-to-notice nurse call with low stress: a pilot study using heart rate variability

Objectives: This study evaluated sounds used in nurse call (NC) systems to reduce stress in the nursing work environment by developing low-stress NCs. Methods: Participants' noticeability and stress were evaluated based on their heart rate variability while listening to nine types of test sounds, including two existing NCs. Next, a new NC was extracted from the test sounds and was verified in the field as a replacement for the tremolo sound (tremolo), which has a negative impression. Results: Tremolo was the most noticeable. However, this sound generates the highest cardiac sympathetic index (CSI), which is an index of stress-related sympathetic nerve activity. Therefore, we extracted a C sound (C6 + G#6), which is the second most noticeable sound after tremolo. The new sound was introduced into a NC system, and the CSI of nurses on duty was analyzed. We noticed that the C sound was less stressful than tremolo. Conclusions: The findings suggest that an improvement in the NC sound quality may lead to reduced stress among nurses in the work field.