Alarm fatigue can lead to distraction and diminish safe care. Based on findings from their Patient Safety Learning Laboratory, the authors used human factors engineering to develop a classification system to organize, prioritize, and discriminate alarm sounds in order to reduce nurse response times.

Alarm fatigue has generated substantial attention as a patient safety hazard. Exploring risks associated with alarm fatigue and factors that contribute to it, this review recommends that interventions and design alternatives be considered to enhance clinician response to alerts.

Researchers performed direct observation of nurse and physician handoff communication to assess their use of interactive questioning, a recommended aspect of this approach. Experienced providers utilized more interactive questioning, and physicians used interactive questioning more often than nurses. These results suggest that providers acquire handoff skills over time and that such techniques may be needed in education for less experienced providers.