Date of Conferral

1-1-2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Nursing

Advisor

Deborah Lewis

Abstract

Technology use in the medical-surgical acute care setting has increased and leads to alarm, alert, and notification overload, also known as alarm fatigue, which is one of the top 10 health technology hazards leading to patient harm. Alarm fatigue is a new phenomenon within the acute care health care setting and impacts patients, families, staff, leadership, organizations, and the profession of nursing. The purpose of this descriptive, comparative, quantitative study was to examine the difference in the level of alarm fatigue and its impact on performance for nurses who work on a technology-dedicated, inpatient, medical-surgical unit versus a traditional inpatient medical-surgical unit. Howard’s decision theory informed this study as the theoretical framework. Two groups of nurses (N = 141), one group from each unit under study, completed the Alarm Fatigue Questionnaire. Calculated with an independent t test, the results showed no statistical significance regarding the impact of alarm fatigue on nurses’ performance between the technology-dedicated and traditional, inpatient, medical-surgical units. Both unit types were impacted by a moderate level of alarm fatigue. Future research could focus on reducing alarm fatigue across inpatient, medical-surgical units. The findings of this study can effect positive social change by defining how the level of alarm fatigue affects medical-surgical nurses’ performance. Benefits of this research impact health care individuals, patients/families, and health care organizations to concentrate on reducing alarm fatigue which will promote patient safety within the acute care setting.

Download

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

 
COinS