‘Alarm fatigue’ sees doctors ignoring monitors 63% of time
ED staff are at risk of becoming 'desensitised' to beeping machines, US researchers say
Only a tiny fraction of the regular din of beeping patient alarms in the ED actually signals a condition important enough to require a change in the patient’s care, a US study finds.
Yet the nearly constant noise tends to desensitise hospital staff to the sounds, a phenomenon dubbed “alarm fatigue,” which can result in real emergencies being missed, researchers warn in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
