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ALARM SYSTEM SAFETY IMPROVEMENT 2024 AND 2025
- 1. ALARM SYSTEM SAFETY IMPROVEMENT Student’s Name Institution/Department Course Instructor Date
- 2. Introduction • A comprehensive approach to clinical alarm systems is indispensable • To achieve this: Leaders should establish alarm system safety as a hospital priority Important alarm signals should be identified Policies and procedures to address these alarm signals should be identified Practitioners and staff should be educated on the safety of these systems (The Joint Commission, 2021)
- 3. Alarm Systems Safety Prioritization • Leaders should do the following: Have a leadership buy-in Communicate the value of alarm systems safety Allocate appropriate resources Develop performance metrics (Sowan et al., 2022)
- 4. Alarm Systems Safety Prioritization Cont’d • Leaders should do the following: Allocate appropriate resources Develop performance metrics (Sowan et al., 2022)
- 5. Most Critical Alarm Signals • These alarm signals include: Cardiac arrhythmia alarms and ventilator alarms High pressure alarms and low-oxygen saturation alarms Non-essential alarms and routine vital signal alarms Alarms associated with infusion pump (Alsuyayfi & Alanazi, 2022)
- 6. Policies and Procedures for Alarms Management • These policies and procedures include: Alarm threshold and parameters should be based on clinical evidence, best practices, expert recommendations, and involvement of multidisciplinary medical team. Alarms should be disabled when they cause undue noises and disruption. Approval is necessary. Clinical engineering staff should set initial alarm parameters Nurses should be responsible for alarm signals monitoring
- 7. Staff and Practitioner Education • Staff and practitioners should be trained on: Purpose and significance of alarm systems Proper operation of alarm systems Roles and responsibilities of each of them Real-life simulations on how to respond to different alarms How to monitor alarms remotely
- 8. Reference • Alsuyayfi, S., & Alanazi, A. (2022). Impact of clinical alarms on patient safety from nurses’ perspective. Informatics in Medicine Unlocked, 32, 101047. • Sowan, A. K., Staggers, N., Reed, C. C., Austin, T., Chen, Q., Xu, S., & Lopez, E. (2022). State of Science in Alarm System Safety: Implications for Researchers, Vendors, and Clinical Leaders. Biomedical instrumentation & technology, 56(1), 19-28. • The Joint Commission. (2021). National Patient Safety Goals® Effective January 2021 for the Hospital Program. A Trusted Partner in Patient Care | The Joint Commission. https://www.jointcommission.org/- /media/tjc/documents/standards/national-patient-safety-goals/2021/npsg_chapter_hap_jan2021.pdf
Editor's Notes
- Although clinical alarm systems play an essential role in alerting caregivers of potential patient issues, improper management often compromise patient safety. This issues is precipitated by a high number of alarm signals in a single care setting , inability to detect individual alarm signals, disturbances resulting from noises these signals make, prompting caregivers to disabling them, and narrow alarm limits. However, according to the Joint Commission (2021), this menace can be solved by developing a comprehensive and coordinated approach to clinical alarm systems management, improving patient safety. From a critical standpoint, key elements that should be integrated to make this possible include establishment of alarm system safety as a hospital priority by leaders, identifying alarm signals to be managed from a holistic and patient safety perspective, developing policies and procedures for managing these alarm signals, and educating practitioners and staff on the need and proper operation of these systems.
- The first step towards prioritizing alarm system safety in the hospital setting includes leadership buy-in. Here, leaders should recognize the importance of alarm system safety. According to Sowan et al. (2022), this can be achieved by striving to understand data monitoring capabilities, deciding on patient safety metrics, establishing data-based continuous monitoring of alarm system safety for risky events, and participating in awareness campaigns. Besides, they can also communicate the criticality of alarm safety in different hospital setting, stressing the effect on patient care and safety. They can also communicate alarm-associated data at organizational level and disseminate strategies that have been shown to be effective in managing alarm systems and improving patient safety and outcome.
- Leaders can also prioritize alarm systems safety in their respective hospital settings by allocating adequate resources, particularly financial and human resources to support different initiatives focused on alarm systems safety. Sowan et al. (2022) indicate that such resources can be useful in facilitating initiatives such as training programs that tackles clinical alarm systems associated problems and challenges and acquiring alarm system technologies that promote patient safety. In addition, clinical leaders can develop performance metrics that are associated with alarm system safety and implement them in their respective hospitals.
- It is possible for hospitals to identify the most important alarm signals to manage based on various factors. Among this factors include input from the medical personnel and clinical departments. This multidisciplinary collaboration between the key stakeholders involved in patient care, including clinicians and nurses based on their expertise and experience can help identify clinically relevant alarm signals necessitating attention and management. Some of these alarm signals include cardiac arrhythmia alarms for clients admitted in the ICU and ventilator alarms for clients admitted in respiratory care unit. These alarms are critical because patients rely on complex and specialized care to survive. Besides, alarm signals can be identified based on the level of risks to patient that should be informed by a comprehensive risk assessment. Alarms that pose the highest risk to patient safety in case of failing to attend to them properly should be prioritized for management. Some of these alarm signals include high-pressure alarms on infusion pumps to mitigate against the administration of fluids that are dangerous. They can also include low-oxygen saturation alarm signals in the neonatal intensive care unit to mitigate against hypoxemia. In addition, Alsuyayfi & Alanazi (2022) indicate that this identification can be based on whether these alarms contribute to noise and alarm fatigue, the key major resulting in unprecedented adverse patient events and life-threatening conditions. Some of these alarms include non-essential alarms associated with patient movement and routine vital signal alarms that are not geared towards indicating any critical change in patient’s condition. Patient alarms that have been shown to contribute to patient harm and near misses including those associated with infusion pumps that cause medical errors should be identified.