Medical device alarm experiences of intensive care nurses

Introduction and Aim: In the provision of healthcare services, one of the important issues is patient safety. Ensuring patient safety can be achieved by minimizing medical errors. Many medical errors in intensive care units occur due to false alarms. Nurses working in intensive care units are faced with many experiences as a result of frequent false alarms. The experiences of nurses due to false alarms lead to alarm fatigue and desensitization. Alarm fatigue has negative consequences for both nurses and patient safety. This study was conducted to examine the alarm experiences of nurses working in intensive care units. Material and Method: The research was conducted using Giorgi's phenomenological approach, which is a qualitative research design. The study was carried out with 21 nurses working in the intensive care units of Edirne Sultan 1. Murat State Hospital between February and May 2023. Research data was collected through face-to-face interviews with nurses a semi-structured interview form. Face to face interviews with nurses were recorded with 2 audio recording devices. Findings: Three main themes and 11 sub-themes were obtained from the research data; 'Experiences of Nurses with Medical Device Alarms', 'Nurses' Thoughts on False Alarms' and 'Nurses' Thoughts on Alarm Fatique'. Most nurses reported experiencing events resulting from false alarms that threatened patient safety. They indicated that false alarms had consequences such as stress, psychological strain, pressure, noise pollution, time loss, work disruption and increased workload. Most nurses reported feeling alarm fatique. Although nurses stated that alarm desensitization did not occur, findings related to alarm desensitization were identified. Conclusion: It was determined that alarm fatique is a commonly encountered problem among nurses. Negative patient outcomes emerged as a result of false alarms. Although nurses stated that alarm desensitization did not occur, findings related to alarm desensitization were identified. It is recommended to prioritize the education of nurses, create policies to prevent alarm fatique and false alarms and place more emphasis on the theme of patient safety. Keywords: Intensive Care Nurse, Alarm Fatique, False Alarm, Patient Safety, Nursing Qualitative Study.