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Alarm Fatigue In Nursing

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When working in the hospital setting, every health care worker has been exposed to many different types of sounds. Whether it is cardiac monitors, phone calls, patient call-lights, bed alarms, feeding pumps, or IV medication machines, nurses are exposed to an extraordinary amount of noises while at work. Being exposed to constant sounds can become exhausting over a 12 hour shift, and many nurses can develop alarm fatigue. Alarm fatigue is when clinicians can become overwhelmed due to the sheer number of alarms and therefore become desensitized (Joint Commission, 2013). Regardless if every alarm that sounds needs a clinical intervention, if nurses develop alarm fatigue, it can be hazardous to their patient’s safety. With alarm fatigue,

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