The effect of interventions made in intensive care units to reduce alarms: A systematic review and meta-analysis study

Objectives: This study examines the effects of the interventions in alarm management in intensive care units on reducing alarms on the basis of current evidence.Methodology: This systematic review and meta-analysis study was conducted between January 1, 2010 and October 31, 2021 by searching 16 databases through an independent search by three researchers. The acronym of PICOS was used and the keywords as well as inclusion/exclusion criteria were determined. The Joanna Briggs Institute meta-Analysis of Statistics Assessment and Review Instruments (JBI-MAStARI) were used to assess methodological quality. Professional meta-analysis Software (ProMeta 3) statistical software package was used for data analysis. The study is preregistered on PROSPERO (CRD42021286770). Setting: Intensive care units. Results: The systematic review included 25 studies, whereas the meta-analysis included 15. According to the heterogeneity test in the study, alarm-reducing interventions yielded a heterogeneous distribution. The overall effect size value of all studies, which was found using the random-effects model, was determined to be -0.03 [95 % confidence interval (CI)], a value between -0.16 and 0.10 CI. Based on the results, individual studies showed that the strategies suggesting to ensure alarm safety were effective in reducing the number of alarms; the combined results of the studies in this meta-analysis showed that the interventions made to reduce alarms had too little effect.Conclusion: This study showed that the interventions have a very weak effect size on reducing the number of alarms.