Alarm fatigue
Alarm fatigue in care homes: fewer alerts, calmer shifts
When the pager goes off all shift, care staff start to respond to it less sharply. That is alarm fatigue. It rarely starts with the carer and almost always with the way the alerts are set up. This page explains how it arises in a care home and what you can do about it.
Updated
What is alarm fatigue in a care home?
Alarm fatigue arises when care staff receive so many alerts that they respond to them less readily: later, or not at all. The term comes from hospitals, where monitoring equipment raises many alarms. In care homes the same happens with call bells and sensors.
How do too many call bell alerts arise?
- Everyone receives every alert. Including the alerts from a unit where you are not working.
- The alert does not say what is happening. You have to go and look to know whether it is urgent.
- Nobody knows who is going. Two colleagues walk to the same room, or nobody does, because everyone thinks someone else will.
- Sensors are on where they are not needed. Or they raise the alarm at a moment that does not suit the resident.
- Technical alerts among the calls. A low battery sits among the calls from residents.
Six things you can do about it
1. Send the alert only to those who need it
A call belongs with the care staff who are responsible for that unit. That takes away most of the alerts per person.
2. Say in the alert what is happening
With the location, the room, the alarm type and the name of the resident, a carer knows before setting off what needs to be done.
3. Make it visible who picks it up
Once a colleague has cleared the alarm, the rest must see that straight away. That stops two people walking to the same call.
4. Set sensors per resident
A resident who can go to the toilet independently does not need an alarm at every step out of bed. Choose per resident which sensor is on and at what moment the alarm comes. Read more about the bed exit sensor for care homes.
5. Agree what happens if nobody responds
A repeat and a hand-over to a colleague or a back-up give certainty. Then not everyone has to receive everything just to be sure.
6. Look at the figures
At which hours do most alerts come? From which rooms? How long are alarms open? With those figures you can see where to adjust.
Where to start
Take one unit and look at the figures of a few weeks before you change anything. Discuss them with the team that works there, day and night. Then change one thing at a time, so that you can see what it does.
What Daza Connect offers for this
| Measure | In Daza Connect |
|---|---|
| Targeted alerts | Only the care staff who are monitoring a unit receive the alerts from that unit |
| An alert with content | Location, room, alarm type and name of the resident on the smartphone |
| Seeing who picks it up | One tap to clear; colleagues see it straight away |
| Setting per resident | A sensor on or off per room; with the Bedscan you choose when the alarm is raised |
| Follow-up | Repeating and escalating according to your organisation’s settings |
| Figures | Reports on response times, peak hours and alarm patterns per unit |
The reports are in the web portal. The alerts arrive in the nurse call app.
A quieter home for residents
An alert on the smartphone makes no sound in the corridor and switches on no light above the door. That is pleasant for the carer and also for residents, especially at night.