Overall, our audience responded very well to our presentation. They all seemed to be in agreement with our research findings. Since this unit is a cardiac telemetry unit, alarm fatigue is a very prominent and relevant issue to these nurses. Even just the few weeks that we were there for clinical, our team agreed that alarm fatigue is real and we were even affected by it, so we couldn’t imagine working 12+ hour shifts and not feeling any symptoms of alarm fatigue. I think that with my team all realizing this, it made the research project that much more interesting and relevant, as we experienced it ourselves too. While discussing our interventions, we were faced with a lot of agreement. The feasibility of daily electrode changes and customizing alarm parameters to prevent false, unnecessary alarms showed to be a no-brainer compared to the amount of stress and fatigue related to false alarms. The audience agreed that education is a priority – the more that other nurses know, the more this issue will hopefully resolve. 

While reflecting on this project, I feel very confident in not only my research skills, but also on my teamwork and communication skills. This project showed me the importance of effective communication amongst a team, and how beneficial it proves to be. In addition, throughout the process of researching, drafting, and eventually presenting our findings taught me a lot about what it takes to conduct true research, quality improvement, and evidence-based practice initiatives. I learned that it is an ever growing process, involving many different steps, some of which can be steps backwards, starting the revision process. I think an important aspect that I would like any future employers to know is that I value the revision process, as nursing is a constant revision process. You may have a plan or draft, but something may not go according to plan, which happened a few times during our project. However, as a team I believe that we were able to work together to navigate issues which these issues overall helped improve our final project significantly. 

As a team member, I discovered that I can work very well with other members in order to produce a piece of work that we are proud of. I find myself to be a hard worker and put a lot of effort into anything I do, which I think was reflected in this project. As with everything, there are obviously some skills that I think I need to improve on throughout the rest of my career as a student and thereafter transitioning into my role as a nurse. Communication in my opinion, is a skill that everyone can continue to work on and better themselves at, especially when working in a healthcare setting. This is a skill that I am going to keep working on. All in all, my team was composed of hardworking and efficient individuals who were able to all navigate this project successfully.