Four Technology Recommendations to Reduce Alarm Fatigue
According to ECRI Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that researches the best approaches to improving the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of patient care, alarm hazards are the number-one health technology hazard for 2013.
Alarm Management: First Things First
When Hedy Cohen, RN, BSN, MS, a critical care nurse and former vice president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), was admitted to a major medical center with severe abdominal pain, she and her husband, Michael Cohen, RPh, MS, ScD (hon.), DPS (hon.), president of ISMP, were dismayed by the number of medical device alerts and alarms she had to endure…
Joint Commission Alert: Medical Device Alarm Safety in Hospitals
The constant beeping of alarms and an overabundance of information transmitted by medical devices such as ventilators, blood pressure monitors and ECG (electrocardiogram) machines is creating “alarm fatigue” that puts hospital patients at serious risk, according to a Sentinel Event Alert issued by The Joint Commission.
The Tale of The Flying Gurney, and Other Events That Should Never Happen, But Still Do
While hospitals do their best to limit the number of so-called “never events” that happen to their patients, recent events show that there is still work to be done.
In patient safety circles, “never events” are mistakes that should simply never happen—seemingly commonsense mistakes such as a surgeon accidentally leaving a scalpel inside a patient, a newborn infant given to the wrong parents, or any death of a patient due to the gross negligence of a caregiver.
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New Joint Commission Alert Addresses Medical Device Alarm Safety in Hospitals
The constant beeping of alarms and an overabundance of information transmitted by medical devices such as ventilators, blood pressure monitors and ECG (electrocardiogram) machines is creating “alarm fatigue” that puts hospital patients at serious risk, according to a Sentinel Event Alert issued by The Joint Commission in April.