Effective approaches to control non-actionable alarms and alarm fatigue
Section snippets
Background
Alarm fatigue is a problem, well-recognized by clinicians, where exposure to high rates of clinical alarms, especially non-actionable ones, results in desensitization leading to dismissal of or slowed responses to the alarms. The risk to patients is poorly understood but may be substantial when the alarms that are true are ignored or the response is delayed. The effect on patients' families and the patients themselves is even more unclear but frequent alarms likely create psychological and
Literature synthesis
A recent systematic review concluded that most alarms are non-actionable [1]. A more recent subsequent systematic review built upon that knowledge by examining what clinical strategies and computerized techniques have been shown to control the total number of physiological alarms (EKG, pulse oximetry, respiratory rate etc.) and/or the number of clinically non-actionable alarms [2].
A substantial number of effective clinical strategies exist and these primarily focus on alarm management [6]. The
Conclusion
In conclusion, despite the lack of peer-reviewed literature that has examined the problem of alarm fatigue directly, if we assume that controlling the total number or alarms and/or non-actionable alarms does reduce alarm fatigue, there already exists a number of proven strategies, both from the computer lab and the bedside, that clearly are effective. While we work to develop better causal metrics for alarm fatigue and put them to the test through a rigorous investment in research, we should be
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