Rikin Shah, a senior consultant at the nonprofit patient safety research group ECRI Institute, told WSJ “culture is probably the hardest part of alarm management because staffers are used to doing things their own way.”
To help hospitals meet the Joint Commission’s requirement, Mr. Shah suggested hospitals do frequent audits and random spot checks of their alarm systems.
According to the report, studies have been conducted by the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s children’s hospital to find the root causes of alarm-related adverse events and identify the best initiatives to improve alarm management.
One practice UCSF adopted from its study was adding a 20-second delay to oxygen saturation monitors, so the alarm only sounds if the change in oxygen saturation persists for 20 seconds. The change reduced the number of alarms with no adverse outcomes.
Dr. Wyatt suggests educating patients and families about monitors and alarms in use to engage them in improvement efforts.
For more study findings and best practices, read the full report here.
More articles on alarms and alarm fatigue:
EHR opioid warning system may trigger alarm fatigue, study finds
Patient safety tool: Extension Healthcare’s alarm safety compliance guide
NICU hyperoxia alarms may cause alarm fatigue and negatively impact patient safety
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