Date on Paper

7-2024

Document Type

Doctoral Paper

Degree Name

D.N.P.

Department

Nursing

Committee Chair

McRae, Emily

Committee Member

Bethel-Hines, Cynethia

Author's Keywords

alarm burden; nuisance alarms; alarm tool

Abstract

Purpose: The Joint Commission established alarm management as a national patient safety goal in 2013 and has continued this goal through 2023 (2022). This goal mandates hospitals to prioritize alarm system management and establish evidence-based techniques to manage and reduce nuisance alarms. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to provide bedside nurses with education about excessive alarm burden and evidence-based alarm management techniques, then implement a daily bedside alarm rounding tool to enhance interdisciplinary communication and address patient alarm limits during daily rounds.

Methods: After extensive review of the literature, prompts discussing daily alarm limits were added to a cardiac intensive care unit’s rounding sheeting. A pre- and post-intervention Likert-scale nursing survey was modified to address all the specific aims of this project. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze all demographic data, while differences in mean and mode were analyzed for each pre- and post-intervention question.

Results: Most of the nurses agreed that discussing patient bedside monitor alarms during daily rounds would reduce nuisance alarms in both the pre- and post-survey. Emerging themes highlighted the need for additional education regarding the benefits of discussing alarm limits and more effective communication amongst the interdisciplinary team.

Conclusion: Utilizing a daily alarm rounding tool has the potential to provide nurses with a platform to address daily alarm limits and reduce nuisance alarms.

Download

Share

COinS