Diagnosing Alarm Fatigue in a Children's Hospital
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 26, 2019
- Creator
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Fry, Christopher
- Affiliation: School of Nursing
- Abstract
- Background: Alarm safety is one of the most prominent and high profile problems in hospitals. When alarms sound constantly throughout the day nurses may experience sensory overload. This desensitizes nurses to alarms, which can create an unsafe, and in some events even fatal environment for the patients. Methods: Central monitoring data was collected on 4 units throughout the Children’s Hospital. Researchers observed central monitor and nurses’ verbal and nonverbal reactions to those alarms. Nurses were also preliminarily surveyed to address their perceptions of alarms on the unit. Results: The average number of alarms per bed, 35 an hour, was extremely high. Nurses also stated in the survey they were desensitized to alarms and the majority believed their coworkers did not handle alarms appropriately. Observations of the nurses revealed that only 22% of nurse responses to alarms were positive. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that alarm fatigue is present in the hospital setting. By identifying the nurses’ response to the alarms (verbal and non-verbal) as well as the frequency of alarms on the unit, a better understanding of alarm fatigue was achieved. The results of this study indicate a great need for interventions developed to address alarm frequency and the nurses’ responses to alarms.
- Date of publication
- spring 2015
- Keyword
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Note
- Funding: None
- Advisor
- Zomorodi, Meg
- Degree
- Bachelor of Science
- Honors level
- Honors
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Extent
- 28
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