Of the more than 125 articles we posted in 2014, below are five of the most read and most discussed articles on alarm management (order is by publication date):
- Nine Technological Solutions to Manage Alarm Fatigue (March 2, 2014)
Maria Cvach, DNP, RN, CCRN (Assistant Director of Nursing, Clinical Standards, The Johns Hopkins Hospital), who is on our board of advisors, and Michael Wong, JD (Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) present an Alarm Awareness Wish List of nine technological solutions to help manage alarm fatigue and to promote better alarm management. Some of these solutions exist today, while others are suggested patient safety solutions to this issue.
- Health Experts Discuss 4 Keys to Reducing Alarm Fatigue (May 19, 2014)
Training, education and individualization are some of the keys to better alarm management discussed by leading health experts during a webinar hosted Premier Safety Institute as part of their Advisor Live series.
- 10 ways to reduce alarm fatigue (May 28, 2014)
Gina Pugliese (Vice President, Premier Safety Institute), who is on our board of advisors, discusses the top 10 things you can do to reduce alarm fatigue. This is second article in a two-part series. The first is “Sounding the Alarm on Alarm Fatigue” below.
- Sounding the Alarm on Alarm Fatigue (May 27, 2014)
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices recently highlighted a case of a 17-year-old girl who died after a simple tonsillectomy done in an outpatient ambulatory surgery center. After the surgery, she was given a painkiller that slowed down her breathing. The drug led to respiratory depression and a fatal respiratory arrest.
Factors contributing to this tragedy included an obstructed view of the patient (a curtain had been drawn around the patient, obstructing the view necessary for the nurses to maintain an ongoing visual assessment) and a muted alarm on her monitoring equipment that couldn’t warn her nurse who was attending to another patient.
- ‘Alarm fatigue’ a top-of-mind concern for U.S. hospitals, finds national survey presented at Society for Technology in Anesthesia Annual Meeting (January 22, 2014)
“Alarm fatigue” – which can lead to serious and sometimes fatal consequence for patients — is rated as a top concern by 19 out of every 20 hospitals in the U.S.