Browsing by Author "Krakova, Nikola"

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    Exploring Intensive Care Unit Nurses’ Decision Making in Alarm Management
    (2023-07) Krakova, Nikola; King-Shier, Kathryn; Banner-Lukaris, Davina; Raffin Bouchal, Shelley
    Alarm fatigue, which occurs when the exposure to an increased amount of false or nonactionable alarms leads to alarm desensitization and reduced clinical response by the healthcare provider, can pose a significant risk to patient safety. With the increasing advances in technology and frequency of alarms in our healthcare system, alarm fatigue is an important and growing safety concern that needs to be addressed. Exploring alarm-related decision making is key to reducing alarm fatigue, as it is important to the development of alarm management related initiatives, education, and policies. To examine this, I used Interpretive Description methodology to explore factors that influence Intensive Care Unit nurses’ decision making regarding alarm management, specifically how they triage and respond to various alarms. This study included 12 participants, comprised of nurses with varying levels of experience, working at three different Intensive Care Units. The results of the interviews suggest that the nurses’ decision making consists of three steps that capture their alarm management response: awareness, triage, and response. Based on these results, a positive alarm management culture, standardized alarm-related education, and mentorship should be evaluated to implement an effective alarm management response and reduce alarm fatigue.