Determinants of Alarm Fatigue among Nurses Working in Thika Level 5 Hospital, Kenya

Introduction: One of the main sources of health technology risks is clinical alarms, such as those for cardiac monitors and mechanical ventilation. Alarm Fatigue is the cause of these risks. Alarm weariness is the psychological result of too many alarms going off in a medical setting, which makes Nurses miss real alarms that are clinically meaningful, hence the objectives of this study was to assess the level of alarm fatigue among Nurses working and assess Alarm Management strategies utilized by Nurses working at Thika Level 5 Hospital, Kiambu Kenya.

Methodology: The study design that was employed in this study is descriptive cross-sectional design. Structured self-administrated questionnaires were used to collect data. The researcher used census sampling where the entire population Registered Nurses working in the renal, theatre, casualty and emergency and critical care department. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. The findings were presented in tables, graphs and figures. The analysis comprised of descriptive statistics, frequencies, mean, and standard deviations. Inferential statistics included chi-square test for independence (X2).

Results: The study participants consisted of 56 Nurses and the response rate in this study was 82.1%. The majority of respondents were female, constituting 76.1% of the respondents. The age group of 31-40 years comprises the majority of respondents, accounting for 78.3% of the total. The overwhelming majority of respondents rated mechanical ventilators as having the highest alarm frequency (95.7%) followed by 58.7% of the respondents monitors as the main source of alarms. 73.9% of participants identified mechanical ventilator alarms as the most challenging to troubleshoot or operate. Nearly half of the respondents (47.8%) indicated that they are likely to trust clinical alarms to some extent.

Discussion: Majority of nurses (95.7%) encountered clinical alarms during their work shifts. Mechanical ventilators and cardiac monitors were rated as having the highest alarm frequency, while patient call systems and electrical beds were perceived to have the lowest alarm frequency.

Recommendations: Offering training on alarm management, optimizing staffing levels, and streamlining equipment interfaces to mitigate alarm fatigue and enhance patient care quality.