Technological advancements have brought efficiency and effectiveness of all aspects of human life. In the health care sector, physiological activities can be effectively carried out by the patient’s bedside through use of modernized equipment’s. The machines function through production of specific sound and in case conditions deviate from the normal range, they consequently and automatically vary the type of sound produced calling for urgent attention from doctors. The alarms have been proven to be of paramount importance in the health sector, however, they have been giving rise to alarm fatigue. This is a condition where sensory stimulus becomes overloaded amounting to sensory desensitization a condition which can make the attendant’s to …show more content…
Research studies show that exposing nurses to disturbances constantly adversely affects their response to an extent of even turning off the alarms (McKinney, 2013). Consequently, incidences can result especially to the sick units due to those disturbing sounds which subsequently result to alarm fatigue. An alert has been raised by the Joint commission due a recent sentinel event which was heavily associated to alarm fatigue (Horkan, 2014). Research statistics by the Joint commission between 2009 and 2012 indicate that 80 death and 13 injury cases occurred as a result of alarm fatigue. Further findings from Food and Drug Administration carried out between January 2009 to June 2010, reveal that a total of 560 death occurred due to alarm fatigue and the associated effects (McKinney, 2013). According to Horkan (2014), all these associated factors to the alarm fatigue can be due to improper alarm setting, malfunctioning, turning off or even reducing the volume of the …show more content…
According to Graham, & Cvach (2010), some of these factors entail but not limited to; frequent levels of alarm rate, lack of adequate standardization of clinical alarms and presence of several bedside equipment’s which substantially contribute to desensitization and alarm fatigue. The alarms are designed in such a way that they are audible enough for the nurses not to miss any single alarm. The way in which some of these alarms are set is such that rather than helping medical attendants, they become a nuisance which adversely affects health care fraternity (Graham & Cvach, 2010).
Evidence-based interventions to minimize alarm fatigue
Due to the negative impact which it attributable to a greater percentage by the alarm fatigue, it is paramount for the healthcare fraternity to come up with satisfactory mitigation plans and approach to the issue.
In the light of the above, evidence based approach should be adopted to mitigate the impact of nuisance alarms in hospitals. Taking a case of a pilot project carried out at John Hopkins Hospital in 2005, a strong project team was identified where they found that with proper alarm management, it is possible that critical frequency of alarms can be reduced to a satisfactory level which resultantly would not have adverse effect to the patient (Meeks,
Deadlines are not met, a cynical or resentful attitude develops, a persistent sense of fatigue pervades both are the nurse’s personal and professional’s life. Today the proportion of acute patients entering the health care system through emergency
Falls of critically ill patients admitted to the ICU routine should be avoided developing certain strategies used outside this area, such as prevention of displacement, promote stability, elimination of sliding hazards routinely ensure that the patient is oriented to the environment and the bell is at the fingertips, keeping the beds in the lowest position and braking, providing adequate lighting, and provide anti-slip footwear and technical assistance in lifting patients bed. The response time of the call prolonged ringing patient or family is just one of the potential causes of falls, firstly because if the response time is greater serve their needs later, and partly because no response to the patient may start feeling agitated. Shift schedules nurses can be particularly effective in preventing falls, as they allow the staff to anticipate and address the needs of each patient. The tubing, drains and cables must be securely to prevent tripping when lifting or embody patients. Although falls can happen without warning, subsequent falls can be avoided if the etiology of them is
The idea of shift work is a common one, but for nurses this is not a simple changing of staff during a certain time, change of shift signifies a time of purposeful communication between nurses and patients, in order to promote patient safety and best practices (Caruso, 2007). During this time, there is the possibility for this critical opportunity to relay important information to become disorganized by extraneous information, rather than concentrating on the needs of the patient (Sullivan, 2010). Often the patient is left out of the conversation, and is not a part of the process. Patients and families can play an important role in making sure these transitions in care are safe and effective (AHRQ, 2013).
Our nurses are being over worked and understaffed and no one is saying anything! There are mountains of evidence that show the adverse relationship between subpar nursing care and patient outcomes. Many people work overtime to make that overtime money because the hospital is usually understaffed. But because patient outcomes really depend on nurses to be in tip top shape, I think it is extremely important that hospitals eliminate working overtime. That is why I am asking policy makers to cosponsor the bill S. 1132: the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015.
Great job on your post, you made some really good points and subjections to help prevent safety issues related to nurse fatigue. In addition, Middaugh (2016), states that according to the ANA, “nurses and employers have a joint responsibility to reduce risks from nurse fatigue and help create a work-life balance”. In fact, during one of my rotation, I heard a nurse complaining of been tired after working 2 days on the row and was on her third shift back to back. She was supposed to be off that day but another nurse couldn’t be at the hospital so she was called in to replace that nurse.
This in turn can cause fatigue and stress levels to rise amongst patient care workers and as a result may have adverse effects on their patients including increasing risk for errors, failure to rescue, and increased risk of mortality. To put this into reality a study was done regarding how much patients are at risk when a nurses’ patient workload exceeds what is considered safe based on the acuity of the patients the nurse is caring
(Joint Commissions, 2014).It is important for nurses to explain how to use the call light to the elderly patients, and also to ask for help before getting out of bed. Vulnerable patients should be placed close to the nursing station for close monitoring. It is very important to educate health care workers on the approaches used to prevent falls. The measures used to prevent falls in the elderly could include; carrying out a risk assessment during admission, placing colorful stickers outside their doors, stopping the use of psychotropic medications, teaching them the best way to use their assistive device, placing their call light and belonging within their reach, placing their beds in the lowest position with brakes /wheels locked at all times, removing throw rugs from their surroundings, making sure that they are wearing non-skid shoes/socks before ambulating and also giving them their prescribed Vitamin D supplement as well as encouraging them on the use of their corrective glasses or hearing aids. It is very important to educate health care workers on the approaches used to prevent
This is important evidence because it gives us conditions and results of what can happen if patients get lower quality care. Patients’ are not having enough time getting checked up by a nurse, and nurses would miss some diagnostics. Patients are getting sick because of the poor care they are receiving from nurses. The care patients can get is affected by a nurse shortage, “Nursing workload definitely affects the time that a nurse can allot to various tasks. Under a heavy workload, nurses may not have sufficient time to perform tasks that can have a direct effect on patient safety.
“Better Nurse Staffing and Nurse Work Environments Associated with Increased Survival of In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patients” states that, “In 2012, registered nurses had 11,610 incidents of MSDs (musculoskeletal disorder), resulting in a median rate of eight days away from work. Among all healthcare practitioner and technical occupations, there were 65,050 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses that required a median of seven days away from work.” While we are unable to attribute every workplace related injury to stress, burnout, and poor work conditions, it is easy to correlate extreme fatigue with decrease in concentration and increase in avoidable
This occurs when nurses provide care to more than the assigned patients, thus increasing patient workload. It affects the patient’s quality of care, increasing the risk for NSOs and other patient complications. Not only are patient outcomes affected, but nurses are experiencing increased burnout and fatigue. A safe nurse is necessary when providing care to ensure a safe and stable patient outcome. These concerns can be preventable by implementing and assigning the necessary tools to minimize effects on nurses and patient
Eliminating risks which is one of the five principles for eliminating work related hazards needs to be applied by reducing the amount of noise intake. Appropriate control measures such as getting rid of any trolleys that are squeaking or broking will reduce noise in the ward which is one concept that will eliminate the risk of hearing loss. By identifying the noise problem and assessing the level and fixing it, will allow the risk of noise to be reduced and lower the level of stress for a nurse. Hearing checks will also allow nurses to identify if any early hear lose is occurring and also by new modifications of machines in a unit, they could reduce the level of noise or eliminate unnecessary noise needed on
In our unit, almost every patient has a bed alarm and chair alarm. Our unit is neurotrauma; therefore, most of the patients are the risk of a fall. So, having a bed alarm and chair alarm is for the safety of the patient and I would keep the same procedure. However, many types of research have been proven that having so many alarm can diminish the nurses, or nursing aides respond ability to the sound. Therefore, I believe if a patient does not need the bed alarm, then it is better not to use it.
Large patient loads combined with a stressful work environment affects nurses’ abilities to provide quality healthcare. Patient safety should never be compromised. It is our responsibility to learn from research and improve our current nurse staffing ratios. Nurse staffing is key and affects all other outcomes. Without nurses administering the right treatment at the right time to the right patients, all other healthcare interventions are not effective.
Nurses fatigue is growing problem nurse face each day in the healthcare environment, and he can be caused by long hours, sleep deprivation, and possibly by accepting extra assignments can be dangerous for both nurses and patient. These inadequacies can result in major implications for the health and safety of registered nurses and can compromise patient care which can lead to fatalities. (American Nurses Association, 2014). In my experience, being fatigued from working much 12-hour shifts consecutively was very difficult as I felt extremely tired, resulting in lack of focus, missing important details during the handing over the process with impaired cognitive functioning. This I found was detrimental to the patients and myself as it impedes quality and has a deleterious effect on patient safety.
However, the scope of this project was to focus on the task-related factors associated with low workload therefore these other factors are only briefly discussed below. The individual factors associated with low workload include sleep-related fatigue and circadian rhythms. Broadly speaking, lack of sleep enhances the effects of low workload situations as it can reduce arousal levels. Williamson, Lombardi, Folkard, Stutts, Courtney and Connor (2011) conducted a review on fatigue and performance and defined sleep-related fatigue as fatigue caused by a ‘reduction in the quantity or quality of sleep, or extension of the time awake since sleep’ and this produces ‘a homeostatic drive to sleep’, which is often experienced as sleepiness.