Tag: Maria Cvach

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

Maria Cvach

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” →

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” →

ECRI’s Top Ten Technology Hazards for 2018

Recently, ECRI Institute released its Top Ten Technology Hazards for 2018. The purpose behind ECRI’s yearly list is to promote the safer use of technology:

The safe use of health technology—from beds and stretchers to large, complex imaging systems—requires identifying possible sources of danger or difficulty with those technologies and taking steps to minimize the likelihood that adverse events will occur. This list will help healthcare facilities do that.

Number 4 on this list deals with how Missed Alarms May Result from Inappropriately Configured Secondary Notification Devices and Systems:

Continue reading “ECRI’s Top Ten Technology Hazards for 2018” →

Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Feb 6, 2015)

While the Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit called for “orders of magnitude” change, the story of Amber Scott, a mother who slipped into a coma during delivery, illuminates why improving safety for even a single person matters. Continue reading “Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Feb 6, 2015)” →

Top 16 Patient Safety Must Reads of 2014

This year, the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health and Safety introduced a weekly round-up of must-read articles in patient safety. The hand-picked list has consistently seen high engagement from our dear readers.

With that in mind, we thought we would compile a list of the Top Patient Safety Must Reads of 2014. Continue reading “Top 16 Patient Safety Must Reads of 2014” →

Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Oct 17, 2014)

Monitoring is the catch word for this week’s must reads. It keeps patients safe and prevents avoidable patient harm. While St Joseph/Candler Hospital just celebrated 10 years of being “event free”, each year an estimated 20,800 to 678,000 patients managing their pain with patient-controlled analgesia will experience life-threatening, opioid-induced respiratory depression. If you are scared about asking your caregivers about monitoring, just say Dr. Robert Stoelting (President, Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation) told you to. Continue reading “Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Oct 17, 2014)” →

Technology wish list for reducing ‘alarm fatigue’ introduced at Society for Technology in Anesthesia Annual Meeting

As a National Patient Safety Goal of The Joint Commission, “alarm fatigue” – which occurs when hospitals staffs become desensitized, overwhelmed or distracted by the myriad patient alarms that sound off around them each day – is now one of the most widely discussed issues in the healthcare.

The dialogue continued at the Society for Technology in Anesthesia (STA) Annual Meeting held Jan. 15-18 in Orlando, where along with presenting First National Survey of Patient-Controlled Analgesia Practices, Michael Wong, Executive Director of the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) introduced a “Technological Alarm Awareness Wish List”. Continue reading “Technology wish list for reducing ‘alarm fatigue’ introduced at Society for Technology in Anesthesia Annual Meeting” →

Three Lessons Learned to Reduce Alarm Fatigue and Improve Alarm Management in Hospitals

Three lessons learned about alarm fatigue and better alarm management – (1) to reduce alarms turn to John Hopkins research, (2) patient surveillance monitoring improves patient safety, (3) reducing leads can reduce alarms by 22%.

According to The Joint Commission, alarm fatigue occurs when clinicians become desensitized or immune to the sound of an alarm. Fatigued clinicians may:

  • Turn down alarm volume
  • Turn off alarm
  • Adjust alarm settings.

Any of these actions may jeopardize patient safety. Continue reading “Three Lessons Learned to Reduce Alarm Fatigue and Improve Alarm Management in Hospitals” →

90% of Patient Alarms Are “False”: Two recommendations for tackling alarm fatigue

The non-profit Connecticut Health Investigative Team [C-HIT] (www.c-hit.org) recently reported what Connecticut hospitals are doing to tackle a phenomenon known industry-wide as alarm fatigue.

As stated in their report “Hospitals Mobilize To Tackle Alarm Fatigue”: Continue reading “90% of Patient Alarms Are “False”: Two recommendations for tackling alarm fatigue” →