BACKGROUND: Alarms are crucial in informing Healthcare Workers (HCWs) about critical patient needs, but unmanaged frequency and noise of alarms can de-sensitize medical staff and compromise patient safety. Alarm fatigue is identified as the major cause of the clinical alarm management problem. It occurs when the medical staff is overwhelmed by the number of clinical alarms. METHODS: The survey was conducted online using Google's form-making tools from June to July 2023. There were three parts to the survey used in the study: a socio-demographic metric, the Alarm Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire (AFAQ), and The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A significance level of 0.05 was used in the analysis. RESULTS: The survey included 756 medical professionals from three European countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland). The participants in the study were 42 years old on average, and they had 12 years of work experience. 603 out of 756 survey participants had poor sleep quality, 147 had good sleep quality, and 6 did not provide an answer. This study analyzed the alarm fatigue levels of respondents in every country. In the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, a statistically significant association (p = 0.039, p = 0.001, p < 0.001) was found between alarm fatigue and sleep quality in medical staff. CONCLUSION: Based on our study, alarm fatigue and sleep quality of HCWs are correlated. Therefore, alarm fatigue and sleep hygiene should be monitored.
- MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Ergonomics * MeSH
- Clinical Alarms statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Sleep Quality * MeSH
- Medical Staff statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Workplace MeSH
- Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
- Fatigue * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Czech Republic MeSH
- Poland MeSH
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of different pulse oximetry (SpO2) target range settings during automated fraction of inspired oxygen control (A-FiO2) on time spent within a clinically set SpO2 alarm range in oxygen-dependent infants on noninvasive respiratory support. STUDY DESIGN: Forty-one preterm infants (gestational age [median] 26 weeks, age [median] 21 days) on FiO2 >0.21 receiving noninvasive respiratory support were subjected to A-FiO2 using 3 SpO2 target ranges (86%-94%, 88%-92%, or 89%-91%) in random order for 24 hours each. Before switching to the next target range, SpO2 was manually controlled for 24 hours (washout period). The primary outcome was the time spent within the clinically set alarm limits of 86%-94%. RESULTS: The percent time within the 86%-94% SpO2 alarm range was similar for all 3 A-FiO2 target ranges (74%). Time spent in hyperoxemia was not significantly different between target ranges. However, the time spent in severe hypoxemia (SpO2 <80%) was significantly reduced during the narrowed target ranges of A-FiO2 (88%-92%; 1.9%, 89%-91%; 1.7%) compared with the wide target range (86%-94%; 3.4%, P < .001). There were no differences between the 88%-92% and 89-91% target range. CONCLUSIONS: Narrowing the target range of A-FiO2 to the desired median ±2% is effective in reducing the time spent in hypoxemia, without increasing the risk of hyperoxemia. TRIAL REGISTRATION: www.trialregister.nl: NTR4368.
- MeSH
- Time Factors MeSH
- Intensive Care Units, Neonatal MeSH
- Clinical Alarms statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Cross-Over Studies MeSH
- Oxygen blood MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Noninvasive Ventilation methods MeSH
- Infant, Premature MeSH
- Infant, Newborn MeSH
- Oximetry methods MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Infant, Newborn MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Multicenter Study MeSH
- Randomized Controlled Trial MeSH
- Geographicals
- Netherlands MeSH
