Search Tag: alarm fatigue
2024 17 May
Patient monitoring in the ICU is critical for providing high-quality medical care. Monitoring involves continuous surveillance of physiological parameters to assess patient condition and detect signs of deterioration promptly. This includes monitoring vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and body temperature; continuous...Read more
2024 17 May
Alarm fatigue is a pressing clinical problem in our post-pandemic ICUs and can adversely impact patient outcomes. Its root causes can be classified by patient, device and organisation related. We believe it can be mitigated and we propose interventions through attention to policy, education and the creation of a meaningful culture of safety....Read more
2024 17 May
An analysis of technical alarms to guide hospital-based alarm management strategies and inform monitoring manufacturers on needed improvements to technical alarm algorithms used in bedside ECG monitors. Introduction Hospital-based electrocardiographic (ECG) monitors are configured to alarm for a number of different types of arrhythmias,...Read more
2020 11 Aug
T hey say that in the world of the intensive care unit (ICU), there is no night. It can be qualified as a lesser day, but not really as a night. The hustle and bustle may be slower, patient flow and activity may be less, conversations may be negligible, and the staff on duty may be limited, but patient care continues, alarms are in place, and the...Read more
2016 14 Apr
Alarm fatigue in ICUs is a well-known issue; the U.S. Joint Commission’s national patient safety goals include reducing harm associated with clinical alarm systems (Goal 6 ). Cardiac monitors in particular trigger a high number of alarms compared to other ICU devices with alarms, such as infusion pumps and ventilators. A project in Texas by Azizeh...Read more
2015 14 Jul
A retrospective study published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows that work hour restrictions for resident physician, revised in 2011 mainly to reduce fatigue-related errors, have not decreased postoperative complication rates in several common surgical specialities. "Our finding suggests the ACGME reform is not meeting...Read more
2014 22 Dec
One issue that hospitals across the US have to continually deal with is alarm fatigue, which results from well-meaning but often misguided attempts to monitor patient safety. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, for example, has an ongoing pilot project to curb alarm fatigue by redefining guidelines on vital signs that trigger alarms. The...Read more
2014 13 Nov
While the sound of monitor alarms in hospitals can save patients’ lives, the frequency with which the monitors go off can also lead to “alarm fatigue,” meaning caregivers become desensitised to the ubiquitous beeping. To address this problem, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (OH, USA) developed a standardised, team-based...Read more