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Alarm fatigue is defined as sensory overload created by an immense number of alarms, which can be either true or false, actionable or nonactionable, and many that are deemed nuisance, all of which result in desensitization of clinicians” Matocha (2018).

Abstract:

Disturbing noise heard when walking through a hospital has been linked to a serious and sometimes fatal phenomenon known as alarm fatigue. Alarm fatigue is defined as sensory overload created by an immense number of alarms, which can be either true or false, actionable or nonactionable, and many that are deemed nuisance, all of which result in desensitization of clinicians.1 Excessive alarm noise has also been linked to sleep disturbances, impaired healing, intensive care unit delirium, decreased patient satisfaction scores, and burnout.



Reference:

Matocha, D. (2018) Reducing Infusion Pump Alarms Through Structured Interventions. The Journal of the Association for Vascular Access. 23(2), p.87-95.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.java.2018.03.002