Changes in Default Alarm Settings and Standard In-Service are Insufficient to Improve Alarm Fatigue in an Intensive Care Unit: A Pilot Project.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Clinical alarm systems safety is a national concern, specifically in intensive care units (ICUs) where alarm rates are known to be the highest. Interventional projects that examined the effect of changing default alarm settings on overall alarm rate and on clinicians' attitudes and practices toward clinical alarms and alarm fatigue are scarce.

Objective

To examine if (1) a change in default alarm settings of the cardiac monitors and (2) in-service nursing education on cardiac monitor use in an ICU would result in reducing alarm rate and in improving nurses' attitudes and practices toward clinical alarms.

Methods

This quality improvement project took place in a 20-bed transplant/cardiac ICU with a total of 39 nurses. We implemented a unit-wide change of defa

SUBMITTER: Sowan AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4797663 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature