What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: Other. Population: Alarm fatigue (n=20). Intervention: Personal, environmental, and medical device factors. Primary outcome: Factors affecting alarm fatigue.

What does this research mean for the field?

Alarm fatigue among clinical nurses is substantially driven by a combination of personal factors, work environment conditions, and alarm device characteristics, requiring a system-level approach for effective management. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

August 19, 2026Frontiers in Public HealthOpen Access

Exploring alarm fatigue among clinical nurses through a human factors engineering framework: a descriptive qualitative study

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Key result

Personal, environmental, and device factors are linked to substantial alarm fatigue among clinical nurses.

n=20

Why the study?

The study was conducted to identify the factors affecting alarm fatigue among clinical nurses, using a human factors engineering model as the theoretical framework.

Population

15 clinical nurses and 5 nurse managers from a large tertiary hospital in China

Design

Descriptive qualitative interview study

Authors

YLYe LiuTongji University JZJingxuan ZhangShaanxi University of Chinese Medicine ZZZimo ZhangJohns Hopkins University

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Drivers of alarm fatigue merit consideration in workflows; leaves open whether system interventions reduce fatigue or improve safety.

Structured PICO

Population

20 clinical nurses and nurse managers from a large tertiary hospital in China whose work involved clinical alarms were interviewed to explore factors affecting alarm fatigue.

Outcome

Factors affecting alarm fatigue

Alarm fatigue among clinical nurses is modulated by personal factors, work environments, and alarm device characteristics, highlighting the need for a system-level approach to alarm management.

Limitations

Findings were derived from a qualitative sample from one large tertiary hospital, limiting generalizability to other settings.
The study focused solely on the perspectives of nurses and did not incorporate the viewpoints of other stakeholders such as physicians or biomedical engineers.
Nurses experiencing more pronounced alarm fatigue might have had more incentives to participate, introducing potential selection bias.
The use of directed content analysis and an interview guide based on the HFE framework may have shifted the results toward predefined theoretical categories.

Cite This Study

Liu et al. (2026) studied Alarm fatigue (n=20). Personal, environmental, and medical device factors was evaluated on Factors affecting alarm fatigue. Personal factors, work environments, and alarm device characteristics substantially affect alarm fatigue among clinical nurses, highlighting the need for a system-level approach to alarm management.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8b010f3fd21775a533847a https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1896498

View Full Paper

Ask AI

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Exploring alarm fatigue among clinical nurses through a human factors engineering framework: a descriptive qualitative study

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Structured PICO

Limitations

Cite This Study

Exploring alarm fatigue among clinical nurses through a human factors engineering framework: a descriptive qualitative study

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Structured PICO

Limitations

Cite This Study

Also Consider

Also Consider