Inappropriate trust in technology: implications for critical care nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Patient Safety
• Medical Technology

Background:

• Intensive care nurses monitor complex equipment with potentially fatal failure consequences.
• High reliability automation can lead to operator over-trust and inadequate monitoring, as seen in aviation.
• Inadequate monitoring by nurses may result in undetected equipment malfunction and adverse patient events.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore literature evidence on critical care nurses' trust in technological equipment.
• To examine the implications of potentially inappropriate trust levels for patient safety.

Main Methods:

• Literature search across multiple databases (Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, Pubmed, ScienceDirect).
• Citation tracking of relevant articles.

Main Results:

• Evidence suggests critical care nurses may develop complacent attitudes towards equipment.
• Consequences of this complacency are less visible in critical care compared to other fields.

Conclusions:

• Unawareness of inappropriate trust risks patient harm.
• Urgent need for research on complacency and its direct evidence.
• Implications for nurse training, ICU protocols, and equipment manufacturers.