Which of these is not a characteristic of alarm fatigue?

Heightened responsiveness is not a characteristic associated with alarm fatigue. Instead, alarm fatigue typically leads to decreased alertness and responsiveness to alarm sounds due to their frequent occurrence and the perceived urgency being diminished over time. When healthcare professionals are exposed to numerous alarms, they may become desensitized, which can result in missed alarms and delayed responses—both critical issues in environments where alarms are crucial for patient safety. The phenomenon arises because continuous exposure to alarms can condition staff to ignore or not react promptly to these sounds, underestimating their importance. Thus, heightened responsiveness contradicts the fundamental nature of alarm fatigue, emphasizing that the correct answer is indeed C.