Reducing harmful noise and improving communication in the operating room
Official title: A Human Factors Approach to Mitigating Speech Communication Interference in the Operating Room
Funded at University of Missouri Kansas City · NIH-11307532 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests ways to reduce confusing noise so surgical teams can talk clearly and keep patients safer during operations.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Missouri Kansas City NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Kansas City, United States) |
| Project start | June 1, 2024 |
| Project end | March 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $398,177 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HS029508-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11307532 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people scheduled for operations at participating hospitals who agree to audio/video recording and brief follow-up, which may include people having abdominal procedures such as cesarean delivery.
✕Less likely to help
Patients who have emergency surgeries, who decline recording or consent, or whose procedures occur outside the study hospitals are unlikely to directly participate or receive immediate benefit.
What this research studies
You may have the operating room audio and video recorded so researchers can map when and how speech gets interrupted during surgery. They will interview surgical team members and use human factors methods and proven interventions from other industries to find what causes communication breakdowns. The team will create detailed timelines of communication interference events and design changes to reduce those interruptions. Those changes will then be tried in real ORs to see whether communication and safety improve.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lower communication-related surgical errors and improve safety and outcomes for people having operations.
How similar studies have gone: Efforts to reduce hospital noise and apply human factors solutions have improved safety in other settings, but applying these methods specifically to speech interference in the OR is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Missouri Kansas City
Kansas City, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sutkin, Gary — University of Missouri Kansas City
- Study coordinator: Sutkin, Gary
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.