Alarm fatigue and the implications for patient safety

Abstract

Objective: To measure the response time of health professionals before sound alarm activation and the implications for patient safety. Method: This is a quantitative and observational research conducted in an Adult Intensive Care Unit of a teaching hospital. Three researchers conducted non-participant observations for seven hours. Data collection occurred simultaneously in 20 beds during the morning shift. When listening the alarm activation, the researchers turned on the stopwatches and recorded the motive, the response time and the professional conduct. During collection, the unit had 90% of beds occupied and teams were complete. Result: We verified that from the 103 equipment activated, 66.03% of alarms fatigued. Nursing was the professional category that most provided care (31.06%) and the multi-parameter monitor was the device that alarmed the most (66.09%). Conclusion: Results corroborate the absence or delay of the response of teams, suggesting that relevant alarms might have been underestimated, compromising patient safety.

The Current Situation and Influencing Factors of the Alarm Fatigue of Nurses’ Medical Equipment in the Intensive Care Unit Based on Intelligent Medical Care

“…This is directly related to the patient's life insurance and is an alarm that must be handled by medical personnel and is also called an effective alarm. Alarms that do not work must include alarms generated by moving objects and technical alarms [ 21 ]. Although scholars have made different definitions of clinical alarms, in the end they all regard alarms that can truly reflect the fluctuations in the vital signs caused by the changes in the patient's condition as correct alarms.…”

The relationships among alarm fatigue, compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction in critical care and step‐down nurses

“…Cvach defined alarm fatigue as sensory overload in which numerous clinical alarms sounding at once or many frequent false alarms occur to trigger nurses to desensitise the sounds and fail to take actions to meet patients' needs in an appropriate and timely manner. It cannot be overlooked that a clinical monitor's alarms require a human response to acknowledge the alarm and take action to ensure safety and well‐being of the patient (Oliveira et al, 2018).…”

Alarm fatigue in infusion pumps in the pediatric context: integrative review / Fadiga de alarmes em bombas de infusão no contexto pediátrico: revisão integrativa

“…3 It can be seen that when activated in excess, professionals become insensitive to attending to them, configuring alarm fatigue and allowing relevant alarms to be ignored and/or silenced. 4 The literature reveals that alarms are evaluated by professionals as irritating, disturbing to the patient, promoting excessive noise, and causing interruptions in workflow. [3][4] Because of this, alarms are often violated, out of range, or reduced in volume.…”

“…4 The literature reveals that alarms are evaluated by professionals as irritating, disturbing to the patient, promoting excessive noise, and causing interruptions in workflow. [3][4] Because of this, alarms are often violated, out of range, or reduced in volume. 5 Alarm concerns have been on the Emergency Care Research Institute's (ECRI) 2011,2014,2015,2016,2018 and 2019 "Alarm Hazards" list of the TOP 10 health hazards.…”