Degree Name
Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
Document Type
Major Paper
School
School of Nursing
Department
Nursing
Date of Original Version
4-2018
Abstract
Alarm fatigue is known to be one of the top safety concerns in the healthcare setting. The Joint Commission recognized Alarm safety as one of the 2017 National Patient Safety Goals. Alarm fatigue occurs when a healthcare worker becomes overwhelmed and often desensitized to patient monitor alarms. It has been established that interventions including ECG daily electrode and battery changes, skin prep for electrode placement, and adjusting alarm parameters to fit patient needs can lead to a reduction in false or nuisance alarms. In order for these interventions to be carried out successfully, education of nurses regarding alarm fatigue and interventions for change needs to be completed. Education is one of the most important phases of creating change. The purpose of this program development project was to determine the effectiveness of an educational program on alarm fatigue awareness for telemetry unit nurses. A program development project was developed utilizing a pre-test, educational intervention, and a post-test design. Tests were used to evaluate the nurses’ knowledge improvement related to the educational intervention. Sixteen out of a possible 60 telemetry nurses completed the pretest portion of this quality improvement project. (N=16, 26.6%). Fourteen of a possible 60 nurses attended the educational session and completed the post-test portion of this quality improvement project. (N=14, 23%). For the purpose of presenting the first four questions, only those tests with matching pre-and-post responses were utilized, (N=14). The mean scores from pre-tests were 51.2% and mean post-test scores were 92% which revealed an increase by 40.8% after an educational intervention. The APRN can assist in establishing and implementing an educational program. This educational program can help to implement interventions and provide evidenced based research to support the prevention of alarm fatigue.
Recommended Citation
Cruz, Samantha, "Telemetry Nurses Knowledge of Alarm Fatigue and Interventions for Change: An Education Program Development" (2018). Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview. 263.
https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/etd/263
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.