Alarm Fatigue Prevention and Safety for ICU Patients
Introduction
Alarm Fatigue is a problem occurring when a patient's care environment is disrupted by loud noises echoing in the surroundings. These noises result from complex interplay between mechanical and human elements. With the advent of technology, noises produced by medical and non-medical equipment utilized on units to aid in patient care have increased. With the increasing complexity of patients' illnesses, more and more medical equipment and the alarms they produce are required for enhanced monitoring. A rise in the number of alerts puts health-care workers at risk of sensory overload, which can lead to stress as they try to respond to all of the medical alarms. Alarm fatigue is the term used to describe this condition (McCartney, 2012).
Methods
There are several methods for improving medical care and reducing medical mistakes caused by overwork. Firstly, the health facilities should create a shift systems that allow nurses to work during shifts. According to Martin, (2015) employees who work shifts, have more time to relax, resulting in greater work performance. Additionally, the hospitals should split employees into groups to ensure that they work fairly and do not over restrict themselves at specific tasks. Secondly, health facilities should make use of contemporary technology such as telescopes and computers to make work easier and maximize work time within a facility (Wolf et al., 2017). Finally, they should be permitted to take breaks during the day, such as lunch and tea breaks. These allow employees to take a stroll or rest in order to replenish lost energy and reduce stress. If followed, these strategies will have a significant influence on the health institutions and will allow nurses to embrace their work better. Medical prescriptions are mostly based on a method that all members of the medical team must follow.
Results
Evaluating nurse performance allows the ICU to be safe for patients. It is dependent on the nurses' capacity to fully utilize their education, experience, resources at their disposal and responsibility to recognize, interpret, and comprehend when they are fatigued. Evaluating efficiency in the workplace also contributes to a reduction in the overall number of medical errors and mishaps and increase employee satisfaction, which is a necessary step toward having effective, contemporary medical processes.
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Discussion
A variety of recommendations for addressing nurses' fatigue experiences may include health centers strengthening the ethical, professional, and health-related tasks of the health center. Nurses should protect their patients' and their own health by arriving at work totally relaxed and ready to work. Furthermore, they should be aware of their own limitations and request to take breaks from duties if they are weary enough. Employees at ICU should not be allowed to work while they are weary as it may result to medical errors that may cause life loss (Alves & Guirardello, 2016). Nurses’ working hours should also be limited to a maximum of maximum of 12 hours each day four to five shifts a week as this will allow them rest while increasing their performance levels. More nurses should also be hired to reduce work overload. Furthermore, ICU departments should ensure nurses have up-to-date and accessible technology to serve patients at any given moment (Alves & Guirardello, 2016).
Application to future nursing practice
Both the hospitals and ICU staff should plan, analyze employees’ performance, and take necessary steps to ensure nurses are prepared to work when needed. ICU nurses who are serially fatigued should be considered for duties elsewhere away from caring for critical patients so as to limit the number of casualties they may cause.
References
Alves, D. F. S., & Guirardello, E. B. (2016). Safety climate, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction among Brazilian paediatric professional nurses. International nursing review, 63(3), 328-335.
Martin, D. M. (2015). Nurse fatigue and shift length: A pilot study. Nursing economics, 33(2), 81.
Prapanjaroensin, A., Patrician, P. A., & Vance, D. E. (2017). Conservation of resources theory in nurse burnout and patient safety. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 73(11), 2558-2565.
Wolf, L. A., Perhats, C., Delao, A. M., & Clark, P. R. (2017). Workplace aggression as cause and effect: Emergency nurses’ experiences of working fatigued. International emergency nursing, 33, 48-52.
McCartney, P. R. (2012). Clinical alarm management. MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, 37(3), 202.
