Improving patient safety through clinical alarms management

Abstract

Clinical alarms warn caregivers of immediate or potential adverse patient conditions. Alarms must be accurate, intuitive, and provide alerts which are readily interpreted and acted on by clinicians appropriately alarms and their shortcomings have been the topic of numerous studies and analysis. The (JCAHO) established a National Patient Safety (NPS) goal in 2002 to improve the effectiveness of clinical alarms. Despite the technological and healthcare improvements related to efforts to meet the NPS goal, adverse patient events continue to occur related to alarm system design and performance, care management and the complexity of the patient care environment. In 2004, the American College of Clinical Engineering Healthcare Technology Foundation started an initiative to improve clinical alarms. The HTF task force reviews the literature related to clinical alarm factors and analyzes adverse event databases. Forums, meetings and a survey of 1,327 clinicians, engineers, technical staff and managers provided feedback regarding alarm issues. Of particular value is the response from nursing who represented the majority of the respondents. Observations and recommendations have been developed to improve the impact of clinical alarms on patient safety. Future directions are aimed at awareness, a focused effort towards the reduction of false alarms, and soliciting all constituents involved in clinical alarms to meet and develop action plans to address key issues.