The association between alarm burden and nurse burnout in U.S. hospitals

Abstract

Background: Alarms pervade the hospital environment, often increasing nurses' workload. Hospital nurses are experiencing burnout at unprecedented rates.

Puropse: This study examined the association between nurses' experience of alarms and burnout.

Methods: Survey data from U.S. nurses (n = 2,131) were analyzed.

Findings: Nurses who frequently/occasionally experienced overwhelm from alarms had 2.47 (95% CI [1.93, 3.16]) greater odds of high burnout than those who rarely/never experienced alarm overwhelm; those who frequently/occasionally had to delay alarm response had 2.13 [1.67, 2.70] greater odds of high burnout than those who rarely/never did; and those who frequently/occasionally encountered situations where no one responded to an urgent alarm had 2.5 [2.07, 3.03] greater odds of high burnout than those who rarely/never encountered such situations. The associations remained largely unchanged after adjusting for hospital characteristics, nurse practice environment, and nurse staffing.

Conclusion: Although this study was cross-sectional, the potential impact of alarms on nurses' well-being is an important consideration as technology advances.

Keywords: Alarm burden; Alarm fatigue; Clinical alarms (MeSH); Nurse burnout; Professional burnout (MeSH).