Prevalence of alarm fatigue and its relevant factors in critical care nurses: A cross-sectional study

Fatigue and indifference among critical care nurses due to intermittent and sometimes false alarms are common problems associated with working with alarming equipment. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of alarm fatigue and its relevant factors among critical care nurses in Golestan province, Iran.

This descriptive-analytical study examined critical care nurses in Golestan province in 2019. A total of 308 critical care nurses (working in ICUs and CCUs) from 11 hospitals were included in the study using the census method based on the inclusion criteria. Data were collected through a 13-item questionnaire assessing nurses’ alarm fatigue. The researcher randomly recorded the number and type of alarms per hour during morning, afternoon, and evening shifts. Simple and multiple linear regression tests analyzed the association between alarm fatigue and nurses’ demographic and professional characteristics as underlying factors. Data analysis was conducted at a significance level of 0.05 and a confidence interval of 95% using SPSS16.

Most nurses, who were predominantly female (79.2%) and had a clinical work experience of 5 years or less in critical care units (69.5%), reported a mean alarm fatigue score of 24.1±6.52. Additionally, 63.3% of the nurses experienced moderate alarm fatigue. It was found that female nurses (87.5%), those working as compulsory medical service workers (35.9%), those assigned to variable shifts (87.2%), and those required to work mandatory overtime (81.5%) reported higher levels of moderate alarm fatigue compared to others. When multiple linear regression analysis was conducted, controlling for the effects of confounding variables, it was observed that among all independent demographic and occupational variables, only gender (b=-0.18, p=0.01), education level (b =0.14, p=0.02), and type of overtime (b=0.15, p=0.01) had statistically significant effects on the response variable, namely the alarm fatigue score (b=-0.18, p=0.01)

Given that most nurses experience moderate alarm fatigue, it is recommended to implement strategies to enhance the quality of care and patient safety, such as providing critical care nurses with appropriate training on the practical and safe management of alarm systems.