ObjectivesThe purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the current situation of clinical alarms in intensive care unit (ICU), nurses' recognition of and fatigue in relation to clinical alarms, and obstacles in alarm management.MethodsSubjects were ICU nurses and devices from 48 critically ill patient cases. Data were collected through direct observation of alarm occurrence and questionnaires that were completed by the ICU nurses. The observation time unit was one hour block. One bed out of 56 ICU beds was randomly assigned to each observation time unit.ResultsOverall 2,184 clinical alarms were counted for 48 hours of observation, and 45.5 clinical alarms occurred per hour per subject. Of these, 1,394 alarms (63.8%) were categorized as false alarms. The alarm fatigue score was 24.3 ± 4.0 out of 35. The highest scoring item was "always get bothered due to clinical alarms". The highest scoring item in obstacles was "frequent false alarms, which lead to reduced attention or response to alarms".ConclusionsNurses reported that they felt some fatigue due to clinical alarms, and false alarms were also obstacles to proper management. An appropriate hospital policy should be developed to reduce false alarms and nurses' alarm fatigue.

The management of enteral feeding by nurses was overprotective because of the unpredictable nature of ICU patients in terms of their underlying disease process. The management of feeding intolerance needs to be evidence-based and nurses must consistently follow the protocol that has been supported as a useful measure.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the features, risk scores and risk factors for deep vein thrombosis in critically ill patients who developed deep vein thrombosis in their lower extremities. Methods: The participants in this prospective descriptive study were 175 adult patients who did not receive any prophylactic medication or mechanical therapy during their admission in the intensive care unit. Results: The mean age was 62.24 (± 17.28) years. Men made up 54.9% of the participating patients. There were significant differences in age, body mass index, and leg swelling between patients who developed deep vein thrombosis and those who did not have deep vein thrombosis. The mean risk score was 6.71(± 2.94) and they had on average 4.01(± 1.35) risk factors. In the multiple logistic regression, body mass index (odds ratio= 1.14) and leg swelling (odds ratio= 6.05) were significant predictors of deep vein thrombosis. Conclusion: Most critically ill patients are in the potentially high risk group for deep vein thrombosis. However, patients who are elderly, obese or have leg edema should be closely assessed and more than one type of active prophylactic intervention should be provided.

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