Distractors in our Environments
Discussion Question:
1. Distractions are everywhere. They may include cellphones, multiple alarms sounding, overhead paging, monitors beeping, and various interruptions that disrupt your clinical practice.
2. Give an example of an ethical or legal issue that may arise if a patient has a poor outcome or sentinel event because of a distraction such as alarm fatigue. What does evidence reveal about alarm fatigue and distractions in healthcare when it comes to patient safety?
**Please use two sources, the textbook and 1 other source**
Sample Paper
Distractors in our Environments
A legal issue could arise in a healthcare facility if a sentinel event occurred as a result of the destruction caused by alarm fatigue. In such an incident, the healthcare providers in a healthcare facility would be liable for malpractice originating from neglect. Sentinel events can be caused by distractions caused by alarm fatigue. Healthcare practitioners can be charged under the malpractice law of neglecting patients and not providing the care needed, which can eventually result in heavy fines or revoking of licenses for such healthcare practitioners in the healthcare facilities they work for (Hebda et al., 2018).
Alarm fatigue refers to the subsequent increase in the response time among healthcare practitioners and the response rate as a result of experiencing excessive alarms. According to Bach et al. (2018), alarm fatigue can therefore result in a lot of harm to patients and can be potentially life-threatening. The Food and Drug Administration estimates that at least 500 alarm-related deaths occur every year in healthcare facilities across the US. According to Bach et al. (2018), alarm fatigue is a complex problem that requires effective solutions, including redesigning the unit environment and layout in a healthcare facility, organizational aspect processes, and workflows, and establishing a safety culture. Technical engineering solutions have to be considered in trying to address alarm fatigue in healthcare facilities. Practical changes and workload considerations also have to be made related to the technology that can be utilized to mitigate the effects of alarm fatigue. The ideal goal of reducing alarm fatigue in a healthcare facility should be to minimize nuisance or false alarms and enhance consistent signals across different equipment in healthcare environments (Bach et al., 2018).
References
Bach, T. A., Berglund, L. M., & Turk, E. (2018). Managing alarm systems for quality and safety in the hospital setting. BMJ Open Quality, 7(3), e000202. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2017-000202
Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P. (2018). Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals (6th ed.). Pearson.
