Alarm Fatigue: Improve Alarm Management & Patient Safety in 2014 Patton Healthcare Consulting 1

Alarm Fatigue Focus Issue A sentinel event alert was released in April ’13 Focus of a new National Patient Safety Goal for 2014 Alarms have led to Immediate Threat – Alarm being shut off or silenced – Not resetting alarm after silenced – Not trained on all equipment – Result in patient death 2

What is Alarm Fatigue? Or Crying Wolf Alarm fatigue occurs when clinical personnel fail to respond appropriately to alarms due to inability to understand the critical nature or priority of the alarm. Staff become desensitized after experiencing and handling so many. Alarms are ignored or turned off. 3

Taking a Good Thing Too Far Study of alarms in critical care units – Hundreds of alarms per patient per day – thousands of alarms per unit per day. Beyond the basics – bed alarms, chair alarms, IV, call button, hand sanitizer. 4

Understanding the Issues Between 85% and 99% of ICU alarms are false, or non-critical alarms, don’t need response FDA published results of 216 manufacturer reports on monitor related deaths TJC analyzed sentinel events for monitor related causes 98 events reported, 80 deaths, 13 permanent loss of function, 5 added LOS 5

Common Causes Staff are overwhelmed by the # of alarms Staff turn-off or turn down alarms Alarm settings not set appropriately Alarm default not reset after a patient move Alarm malfunctions such as not properly relayed to wireless or paging system or battery Nurses block out noise to focus on task 6

Causes – Cont. – Inadequate staff training and sounds are difficult to learn, differentiate which alarm – Put a “ring” on it - The “too-easy” solution to many problems – Med Equipment companies create their alarm to fetch attention, the beeping is intended to irritate – Sounds of alarms do not differentiate a ‘notification’ from a critical event. 7

2013 TJC Sentinel Event Alert Combined set of recommendations from TJC, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and ECRI Institute. 8

Sentinel Event Alert Recommendations ①Leaders ensure there is a process for safe alarm management and response in high- risk areas. ② Prepare an inventory of alarm-equipped medical devices and identify the default alarm settings and appropriate alarm limits. 9

Sentinel Event Alert Recommendations ③Establish guidelines for alarm settings. Define when alarms are not clinically necessary ④Establish guidelines for tailoring alarm settings and limits for individual patients (who can modify and when) ⑤Implement routine inspections and maintenance of alarm-equipped devices. ⑥Staff training on above 10

Sentinel Event Alert Recommendations ⑦Adhere to manufacturer instruction for use, eg: replace single use leads, replace batteries ⑧Assess acoustics of alarm sounds ⑨Set as a leadership priority ⑩Establish a team to address 11

New NPSG on Alarm Safety NPSG Establish alarm safety as a priority (7/2014) 2Identify the most important alarm signals to manage (throughout 2014) 3Establish policies and procedures for managing clinical alarms. (1/2016) 4Educate staff and LIP’s about the purpose and proper operation of alarm systems (1/2016) 12

NPSG EP 3 Policy and Procedure should address: – Clinically appropriate settings for alarm signals – When alarm signals can be disabled – When alarm parameters can be changed – Who has the authority to set alarm parameters – Who can change alarm parameters – Who can turn alarm “off” – Monitoring and responding to alarm signals – Checking individual alarm signals 13

What to do Now Assign the task to quality committee or safety committee Review alarm literature and your own data Decide which alarms are most important to manage – ICU, telemetry, ED, OR and PACU alarms likely to be high priority Seek leadership approval for priorities/plan Document your efforts and decisions early

Many Variables Patient Population Unit layout Staffing - numbers and mix Care model Delineation of responsibility Culture Technological capabilities and configuration

Gather Data and Input Look at actual events and near misses Determine underlying root causes Conduct routine rounding aimed at alarms – Listen to staff concerns; what worries them? – Flow chart the processes for alarm notification and response – Look for obvious issues Pagers not worn, delayed responses, poor audibility

Potential Root Causes Responsibility for alarm response is ill- defined Competing priorities (e.g., patient satisfaction tied to a low-noise level on unit) Assumption that someone else will respond Lack of escalation plan with responsibilities and time intervals defined

Concrete Steps to Improving Safety/Effectiveness of Alarms How many alarms are tolerable to staff to avoid fatigue? Anesthesiology Today study suggests 2 – 4 per patient/day Reduce Thresholds for alarms, use evidence based approach. – Define when a clinician needs to go to bed side 18

Reducing False Positives A Johns Hopkins Study: lower SpO2 alarm from 90% to 88% reduced alarms by more than 50% Low heart rate 60 to 50 = 88% reduction High heart rate 120 to 150 = 85% reduction Place delays on alarms, delay alarm by 15 seconds. Journal of Emergency Medicine (JEM) study. Reduced false positives by 80% 19

Improving Safety of Alarms Equipment maintenance – Reduce low battery alerts by replacement – Deactivate or limit overrides – Routine testing of alarms Selection of equipment – Vendors with meaningful alarm sounds – Implement intelligent escalation of alerts – Involve staff in equipment selection 20

Improving Safety of Alarms Staff Training – Train staff on meaning of all alarm sounds – Train staff to check patient before silencing any alarm – Train staff on new equipment – Train staff on proper alarm placement, skin preparation, ensure competence 21

Improving Safety of Alarms Develop and implement policies Who can change alarm settings Who needs to be monitored What are default settings Who is responsible for performing clinical alarm monitoring rounds Develop audit tool to measure compliance with established policies Develop and complete check list at shift change for patient alarm settings 22

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