Nurse response time to physiologic monitor alarms in a children’s hospital seem to depend on a variety of factors, according to a prospective cohort study that included 551 hours of video-recorded care by 38 nurses. Among the metrics evaluated:

• The nurse-to-patient ratio.
• Physical and mental fatigue—measured by reviewing how many hours nurses were into their shift.
• The complexity of the care that patients received.
• The absence of family members.
• The number of years of experience of the attending nurse.

More complex care, the absence of family members, fatigue, nurse/patient ratio, and less than 1 year of experience as a nurse were among the factors associated with a faster response time.