Alarm fatigue in the ICU (v. 1.0)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploratory study of alarm fatigue among intensive care unit nurses
IRAS ID
171475
Contact name
Michael S E Kristensen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Plymouth University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 0 days
Research summary
The objective of the study is to provide an evidence-based qualitative and quantitative description of the complexity of alarm occurrences that correlate with alarm fatigue, as experienced by nurses in an intensive care unit (ICU).
By use of subjective evidence-based ethnography (SEBE) a variety of audio-visual recordings from two work shifts of 3 ICU nurses will provide data that facilitate an integration of 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person perspectives of alarm experiences and behaviour.
During semi-structured interviews with each of the nurses selected excerpts from their own 1st person recordings will be reviewed and discussed. Introspective insights from the nurses will provide support to clarify potentially important interpretations and hypotheses drawn through Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
The study aims to provide a more integrated, i.e. methodologically triangulated, understanding of alarm fatigue in a healthcare environment, compared to previous research. This is a first important step toward understanding exactly what kind of “soundscape interventions” (Mackrill, Jennings, and Cain, 2013) are needed in order to solve the problems associated with alarm fatigue.REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0207
Date of REC Opinion
6 May 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion