title: Clinical Alarms in intensive care: implications of alarm fatigue for the safety of patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to identify the number of electro-medical pieces of equipment in a coronary care unit, characterize their types, and analyze implications for the safety of patients from the perspective of alarm fatigue.
  
  
  METHODS
  this quantitative, observational, descriptive, non-participatory study was conducted in a coronary care unit of a cardiology hospital with 170 beds.
  
  
  RESULTS
  a total of 426 alarms were recorded in 40 hours of observation: 227 were triggered by multi-parametric monitors and 199 were triggered by other equipment (infusion pumps, dialysis pumps, mechanical ventilators, and intra-aortic balloons); that is an average of 10.6 alarms per hour.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the results reinforce the importance of properly configuring physiological variables, the volume and parameters of alarms of multi-parametric monitors within the routine of intensive care units. The alarms of equipment intended to protect patients have increased noise within the unit, the level of distraction and interruptions in the workflow, leading to a false sense of security.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Adriana Carla
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bridi
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thiago Quinellato
authors.initials: TQ
authors.lastname: Louro
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberto Carlos Lyra
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D000071064:Alert Fatigue, Health Personnel; D056902:Clinical Alarms; D003325:Coronary Care Units; D003422:Critical Care; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D061214:Patient Safety