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ENVIRONMENT BRISEYDA RESÉNDIZ MÁRQUEZ – ARCHITECT & DIRECTOR, GRUPO ARTEDI, MEXICO


How does city noise impact hospitals?


Briseyda Reséndiz Márquez, chair of the Mexican Association of Specialized Health Architects and director of architects Grupo Artedi, presents the findings of a study into noise pollution near a general hospital in Mexico City.


According to the Mexico City Environmental and Territorial Planning Agency (PAOT-CDMX), noise is among the three environmental problems that most affect the local population. The continuous growth of the number of inhabitants has led to an expansion of transport, supermarkets, schools, parks and, among other things, hospitals. Yet how does noise from the city impact hospitals? There are various physiological and psychological effects from the presence of noise on the inhabitants of healthcare units. These are not always the same, since they depend on the intensity, duration and source; in the same way, they vary according to the state of health. In 1869, Florence Nightingale wrote in her book Notes on Nursing that ‘unnecessary noise, or noise that creates an expectation in the mind, is what hurts a patient. It is seldom the volume of the noise, the effect on the organ of the ear, that seems to affect the patient… unnecessary noise, then, is the cruellest absence of care that can be inflicted on the sick’.


more vulnerable than adults and women than men.1


noise levels in the general population can develop permanent effects, such as hypertension and heart disease. Higher


It is important to note that children are Prolonged exposure to high


Analysing the behaviour of the noise of the city can help us to make decisions and carry out zoning that promotes acoustic comfort to the exterior and interior of healthcare estates


noise levels appear to cause slower wound healing rates and resistance to infection.2 Sleep disturbance is considered the


biggest noise pollution condition. Among the main symptoms are: difficulty falling asleep, waking up during the sleep phase, changes in the depth of sleep, and insomnia. Some investigations have shown that, under the action of intense sound stimuli – of the order of 100-120 decibels – a decrease in the visual field.3


Noise is


also associated with higher sedation and analgesia requirements among patients in intensive care units, among others symptoms.4


Acoustic categorisation Based on the aspects established by Berglund et al1


and a proposal of the


maximum limits of sound levels, it was necessary for this study to generate


Briseyda Reséndiz Márquez


Briseyda Reséndiz Márquez is a Mexican architect. She is director of Mexico City architecture practice Grupo Artedi and current chair of Mexican Association of Specialized Health Architects. Having studied architecture at Metropolitan Autonomous


University (UAM), she studied the specialization of planning and design of healthcare units at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where her research included acoustic comfort. Since 2017, she has held the certification in healthcare unit design by the Mexican Association of Specialized Health Architects (SMAES) and the College of Mexican Architects and


the Society of Mexican Architects (CAM-SAM). Since 2007, she has worked in the development and coordination of healthcare projects for both public and private initiatives. She has participated in national and international conferences as speaker and she is IFHE’s representative for Mexico.


IFHE DIGEST 2022


suitable acoustic zoning of city districts to establish protection parameters of sensitive areas such as housing, hospitals and education. The proposed acoustic classification


was based on five categories set out by Rodriguez et al in 2016.5


Table 1 shows


the five categories: protected areas, quiet areas, moderate noise areas, loud noise areas, and special noise areas. Hospitals are included in protected areas.


Darío Fernandez Fierro General Hospital (HGDFF), Mexico City Healthcare units need to be located at strategic points in cities, easily accessible to users. When providing emergency services, in which the use of time is vital, construction on land adjacent to main roads is the best option. As shown in Figure 1, these are the characteristics of HGDFF; it is located near two main routes, a secondary avenue and a third avenue. To carry out the measurement of


external noise levels that may affect HGDFF, reference points were used. These points were determined by selecting the


Figure 1. Location of Darío Fernandez Fierro General Hospital, Mexico City.


59


Source: Google Maps


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