Evaluation of alarm fatigue in nurses working in intensive care units and alarm fatigue

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to investigate alarm fatigue, which has a negative impact on nurses working in intensive care units. Methods: A questionnaire of 20 questions consisting of the alarm fatigue scale in nursing and sociodemographic questions prepared on Google Forms was sent to the nurses working in intensive care units as a social messaging platform and e-mail between 1 January-1 February 2022. Results: 219 nurses provided feedback. Nurses working in adult intensive care units participated with 70.6%. It was observed that alarm fatigue scores decreased as the duration of working in the intensive care unit and the working time in the nurse increased. Conclusion: As the age and professional experience of the nurses increase, the fatigue caused by the alarms decreases. Since this situation may pose a danger to the safety of patients who young nurses follow in the first years of the profession, it would be appropriate to develop nurses' methods of coping with alarms.