Strategies for Managing Alarm Fatigue:
Journal Club Article and Questions
Journal clubs consist of a group of nurses or other members of the health care team who regularly meet
to discuss and critique research and other articles appearing in journals. Creating a journal club is a good
way to get started in evidence-based nursing practice. Journal clubs provide nurses with the opportunity
and skills to read and critically evaluate current research, and to determine its applicability to their
practice areas.
As you know, I just returned from AACN’s NTI conference in Boston. I learned some new information
related to the problem of alarm fatigue. More importantly, I discovered some simple strategies that we
can implement right here in our own unit to decrease the potential for alarm fatigue. As a first step in
evaluating our practice and to begin integrating evidence-based practice into patient care, let’s plan an
Alarm Fatigue Journal Club that’s convenient for nurses and other members of the health care team.
What is the research article we will be reviewing in the Journal Club?
Graham KC, Cvach M. Monitor alarm fatigue: standardizing use of physiological monitors and
decreasing nuisance alarms. Am J Crit Care. 2010;19(1):28-34; quiz 35.
What are the questions that will guide our Journal Club?
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What was the purpose of the project?
Why is the problem significant to clinical practice?
What does the literature indicate with respect to alarm rates and false alarms?
Why is the concept of alarm fatigue important to patient care?
What were the characteristics of the test unit for the project?
How were cardiac alarm and system status alarm data collected?
What were the specific tests of change that were implemented during the program?
What was the decrease in the total number of alarms that occurred as a result of the initiative?
How did the alarm data compare to the average census of the unit?
What are the implications of the study for clinical practice?
How does the study extend the evidence base related to the impact of interventions targeting
proper tailoring of alarms?
Strategies for Managing Alarm Fatigue: Journal Club Article and Questions
Copyright © 2013 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses