Tag: alarm management

Maria Cvach’s 6 Steps for Improving Alarm Management

Maria Cvach, DNP, RN, FAAN, who is director of policy management and integration for Johns Hopkins Health System, recently spoke with the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) about the experience of John Hopkins Hospital in improving patient safety and reducing alarm fatigue.

Clinical Education Podcast Features Maria Cvach on Reducing Alarm Fatigue

In a clinical education podcast that was released on PPAHS’s YouTube Channel, Ms. Cvach discussed how John Hopkins Hospital was ahead of the curve in managing alarm fatigue, which became The Joint Commission proclaimed as a national patient safety goal in 2014. Johns Hopkins Hospital had formed an alarm management committee in 2006:

Continue reading “Maria Cvach’s 6 Steps for Improving Alarm Management” →

ECRI’s Advice on Alarm Management

ECRI Institute’s Marc Schlessinger, RRT, MBA, FACHE, who is senior associate at their applied solutions group, recently spoke with the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) on how to improve alarm management. The interview can be heard on the clinical education podcast, “Improving Patient Safety and Reducing Alarm Fatigue: The Right and Wrong Way to Use Continuous Surveillance Monitoring.”

Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executive Director, PPAHS) noted the work that ECRI has done to help improve patient safety and reduce alarm fatigue citing ECRI’s recent “Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2018:”

Continue reading “ECRI’s Advice on Alarm Management” →

Improving Patient Safety and Reducing Alarm Fatigue

The Physician-Physician Alliance for Health Safety released a clinical education podcast on improving patient safety and reducing alarm fatigue.

Discussing the right and wrong ways to use continuous surveillance monitoring are a distinguished panel of experts:

Leah Baron, MD is chief of the department of Anesthesiology at Virtua Memorial Hospital;
Maria Cvach, DNP, RN, FAAN is director of policy management and integration for Johns Hopkins Health System; and
Marc Schlessinger, RRT, MBA, FACHE is senior associate at ECRI Institute’s applied solutions group.

Continue reading “Improving Patient Safety and Reducing Alarm Fatigue” →

Advances in Alarm Management and Surveillance Monitoring

Written by James Welch, CEO Arc Biomedical Consultants (jwelch@arcbiomed.com)

james-welch

Mr. Welch is a Clinical Engineer with 17 yrs experience in hospitals and over 24 yrs as an executive in the medical device industry. His focus has been on applying technologies to improve patient safety through continuous surveillance monitoring. Mr. Welch has ten patents and articles in the field of wireless physiologic monitoring, surveillance systems and alarm management. He regularly contributes to the AAMI Foundation on alarm safety and is a voting member on a number of International Standards committees.

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Early detection of physiologic deterioration is essential in improving patient safety in acute care hospital settings. Patients in non-ICU settings who are recovering from surgery or special procedures are especially vulnerable because of private or semi-private room settings prevents direct observation and nurse to patient ratios are often 1:6. Experts in Rapid Response Systems (RRS) have arrived at a consensus that strengthening early detection through continuous monitoring is essential in improving the effectiveness of RRS but only if such systems do not impose a burden on the clinical staff. The high incidence of nuisance alarms and cost are two of the major barriers preventing broader adoption of continuous monitoring on the general care floor. Continue reading “Advances in Alarm Management and Surveillance Monitoring” →

Preventing Opioid-Related Adverse Events with Capnography

This year, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System (SJ/C) celebrated 12 years free from opioid-related adverse events. The PPAHS had the pleasure of interviewing Harold Oglesby, RRT, Manager to uncover the SJ/C team’s learnings in implementing the quality improvement project.

From the inception of the project, continuous electronic monitoring with capnography has been a cornerstone technology to keeping patients at SJ/C safe. Mr. Oglesby and his team implemented a continuous monitoring program with capnography after identifying a need for reliable, early indication of patient decline in ventilation. Since the initial pilot, the monitors have shown tangible results:

“There was a couple of ‘aha’ moments when we saw that capnography giving us, sometimes an hour earlier, [indication] of a patient that was getting into distress.”

Effective implementation is crucial whenever new technology is introduced in a clinical setting. During our interview, Mr. Oglesby speaks to three key learnings to make continuous monitoring with capnography a success. Continue reading “Preventing Opioid-Related Adverse Events with Capnography” →

Respiratory Therapists Are Integral to Reducing Opioid-Related Adverse Events

In a recent interview with Harold Oglesby, RRT, Manager, The Center for Pulmonary Health, Candler Hospital, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System (SJ/C), our discussion focused on the success factors that contributed to SJ/C’s 12 years free from opioid-related adverse events.

During the interview, Mr. Oglesby highlighted five key learnings from his experiences in implementing and continuously improving SJ/C’s QI initiative. One of these learnings was the importance of involving Respiratory Therapists (RT) throughout the process. Continue reading “Respiratory Therapists Are Integral to Reducing Opioid-Related Adverse Events” →

12 Years of Event-Free Opioid Use

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) recently interviewed Harold Oglesby RRT, Manager, The Center for Pulmonary Health, Candler Hospital, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System (SJ/C).

Continue reading “12 Years of Event-Free Opioid Use” →

Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads – October 14, 2016

This week from PPAHS we created a two-part article series examining patient monitoring strategies. We also found 2 insightful articles adding to our knowledge of the opioid crisis, and a spotlight on alarm fatigue. Continue reading “Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads – October 14, 2016” →

3 Limitations to the Use of Pulse Oximetry

Image source: http://thedoctorweighsin.com/pulse-oximetry-false-alarms-on-post-surgical-floors/ — *Image source.*

In PPAHS’ latest podcast, we spoke with Thomas W. Frederickson, MD, FACP, SFHM, MBA – lead author of the Society of Hospital Medicine RADEO guide (“Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids”). The RADEO guide is a comprehensive clinician manual created with the aim to decrease opioid-related adverse events in an inpatient setting. Continue reading “3 Limitations to the Use of Pulse Oximetry” →

Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (September 23, 2016)

This week’s must reads brings forth key resources relevant to our latest podcast, as well as stories from around the web related to alarm fatigue, patient safety data collection, and opioid guidelines. Continue reading “Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (September 23, 2016)” →