Alarm Fatigue

Alarm fatigue in hospital nursing settings is characterized and caused by false positive alarms and clinically insignificant alarms, sometimes referred to as the “crying wolf” effect (Gross, Dahl, & Nielsen, 2011; Funk, Clark, Bauld, Ott, & Coss, 2014). The phenomena of repeated false alarms over time causes nursing staff to become desensitized, responding less frequently and less punctually resulting in compromised patient care and safety (Konkani, Oakley, & Bauld, 2012). As estimated by The Joint Commission (2013), hereafter referred to as TJC, 85-99% of sounding alarms are insignificant, reinforced by Graham and Cvach (2010), who estimated less than 1% resulted in nursing intervention. In 2013, TJC issued a Sentinel Event raising awareness about alarm fatigue, requiring hospitals to create guidelines for medical equipment alarms (Funk et al., 2014). The new policies need revision and further study before a definitive answer can be recommended to reduce noise and increase nursing efficiency. As stated by the patron of the nursing profession, Florence Nightingale in Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not: “Unnecessary noise, then, is the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted either on sick or well” (1859, p. 27). In this review of the literature, the researchers took multiple scholarly articles and studies from medical databases and synthesized them. Recommendations and gaps in the literature are noted

How Ecotheological Beliefs Vary Among Australian Churchgoers and Consequences for Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors

A growing literature has sought to understand the relationships between religion, politics and views about climate change and climate change policy in the United States. However, little comparative research has been conducted in other countries. This study draws on data from the 2011 Australian National Church Life Survey to examine the beliefs of Australian churchgoers from some 20 denominations about climate change—whether or not it is real and whether it is caused by humans—and political factors that explain variation in these beliefs. Pentecostals, Baptist and Churches of Christ churchgoers, and people from the smallest Protestant denominations were less likely than other churchgoers to believe in anthropogenic climate change, and voting and hierarchical and individualistic views about society predicted beliefs. There was some evidence that these views function differently in relation to climate change beliefs depending on churchgoers’ degree of opposition to gay rights. These findings are of interest not only for the sake of international comparisons, but also in a context where Australia plays a role in international climate change politics that is disproportionate to its small population