The global aim of this project was to improve patient safety on the Surgical Unit at an acute care facility in Southern California through enhanced cardiac alarm customization. Alarms are intended to enhance patient safety. However, unnecessary and non-actionable alarms contribute to alarm desensitization and fatigue, lessening response time to critical alerts. Alarm fatigue has become a growing patient safety concern and is included as one of the Joint Commission’s 2015 National Patient Safety Goals. Assessment data on the Surgical Unit revealed lack of alarm customization and inappropriate default settings. The framework for the project focuses on the CNL curriculum element of Care Environment Management and the CNL functions in the role of Information Manager.
The specific aim of this project was to reduce the number of cardiac alarms by 20% on the Surgical Unit by August 8th, 2015. Nurses were provided education on the problem of alarm fatigue and evidenced based guidelines including alarm customization. Alarm default settings were adjusted to more appropriately match the patient population. Six hours of alarm data was collected prior to and after implementation. A 32% reduction in cardiac alarms was observed following intervention, exceeding the goal of 20%. Pre and post intervention data indicated a need for further education regarding lead management, due to the high volume of artifact related alarms. Future work will also focus on evaluating patient and nurse satisfaction.
","abstract_html":"<p>The global aim of this project was to improve patient safety on the Surgical Unit at an acute care facility in Southern California through enhanced cardiac alarm customization. Alarms are intended to enhance patient safety. However, unnecessary and non-actionable alarms contribute to alarm desensitization and fatigue, lessening response time to critical alerts. Alarm fatigue has become a growing patient safety concern and is included as one of the Joint Commission’s 2015 National Patient Safety Goals. Assessment data on the Surgical Unit revealed lack of alarm customization and inappropriate default settings. The framework for the project focuses on the CNL curriculum element of <em>Care Environment Management</em> and the CNL functions in the role of <em>Information Manager</em>.</p> <p>The specific aim of this project was to reduce the number of cardiac alarms by 20% on the Surgical Unit by August 8<sup>th</sup>, 2015. Nurses were provided education on the problem of alarm fatigue and evidenced based guidelines including alarm customization. Alarm default settings were adjusted to more appropriately match the patient population. Six hours of alarm data was collected prior to and after implementation. A 32% reduction in cardiac alarms was observed following intervention, exceeding the goal of 20%. Pre and post intervention data indicated a need for further education regarding lead management, due to the high volume of artifact related alarms. Future work will also focus on evaluating patient and nurse satisfaction. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kinghorn, Kimberly A"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)","degree_level":"Project/Capstone - Global access","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["T.Gallo, DNP, CNL","Elena Capella, EdD, MSN, MPA, RN, CNL, CPHQ, LNCC"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-08-17T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-08-17T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:43:17Z","subjects":["Alarm Fatigue","Alarm Customization","Cardiac Alarms","Patient Safety","Healthcare Technology","Alarm Management","Nursing"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/167","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["T.Gallo, DNP, CNL","Elena Capella, EdD, MSN, MPA, RN, CNL, CPHQ, LNCC"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kinghorn, Kimberly A"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-08-16T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Project/Capstone - Global access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Alarm Fatigue","Alarm Customization","Cardiac Alarms","Patient Safety","Healthcare Technology","Alarm Management","Nursing"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/167"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The global aim of this project was to improve patient safety on the Surgical Unit at an acute care facility in Southern California through enhanced cardiac alarm customization. Alarms are intended to enhance patient safety. However, unnecessary and non-actionable alarms contribute to alarm desensitization and fatigue, lessening response time to critical alerts. Alarm fatigue has become a growing patient safety concern and is included as one of the Joint Commission’s 2015 National Patient Safety Goals. Assessment data on the Surgical Unit revealed lack of alarm customization and inappropriate default settings. The framework for the project focuses on the CNL curriculum element of Care Environment Management and the CNL functions in the role of Information Manager.
The specific aim of this project was to reduce the number of cardiac alarms by 20% on the Surgical Unit by August 8th, 2015. Nurses were provided education on the problem of alarm fatigue and evidenced based guidelines including alarm customization. Alarm default settings were adjusted to more appropriately match the patient population. Six hours of alarm data was collected prior to and after implementation. A 32% reduction in cardiac alarms was observed following intervention, exceeding the goal of 20%. Pre and post intervention data indicated a need for further education regarding lead management, due to the high volume of artifact related alarms. Future work will also focus on evaluating patient and nurse satisfaction.
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The specific aim of this project was to reduce the number of cardiac alarms by 20% on the Surgical Unit by August 8th, 2015. Nurses were provided education on the problem of alarm fatigue and evidenced based guidelines including alarm customization. Alarm default settings were adjusted to more appropriately match the patient population. Six hours of alarm data was collected prior to and after implementation. A 32% reduction in cardiac alarms was observed following intervention, exceeding the goal of 20%. Pre and post intervention data indicated a need for further education regarding lead management, due to the high volume of artifact related alarms. Future work will also focus on evaluating patient and nurse satisfaction.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/167"],"dc:subject":["Alarm Fatigue","Alarm Customization","Cardiac Alarms","Patient Safety","Healthcare Technology","Alarm Management","Nursing"],"dc:title":["Addressing the Problem of Alarm Fatigue: Enhancing Patient Safety through Cardiac Alarm Customization"],"thesis:degree_level":["Project/Capstone - Global access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:43:17Z"}