Reducing Ventilator Alarms Through Decreased Rainout in Ventilator Circuits: A Bench Study

Background:Alarm fatigue is a significant problem in healthcare, particularly in high acuity settings such as intensive care, surgery, and emergency departments. Alarms are triggered by various devices such as anesthesia machines, ventilators, patient monitors or humidifiers. Heated humidifiers (HH) used with mechanical ventilators, while necessary to prevent other complications associated with mechanical ventilator, may cause condensation in the ventilator circuit, prompting occlusion alarms indicating a risk for the patient. Technological advances in heated humidifier (HH) circuits may reduce rainout and therefore occlusion alarms. Methods:Bench experiments measured alarms and rainout of two commercially available humidifiers (AirLife DuoTherm™ and Fisher & Paykel MR850) and four different pediatric and adult patient’s breathing. The tests examined condensation accumulation after 24 hours of low-, nominal-, or high-flow rates of gas at low-, nominal-, and high-ambient temperature settings. Dual-limb designs of adult- and neonate-sized circuits underwent evaluation. Data on alarms was collected for each system.Results:Low temperature and occlusion alarms were statistically significantly lower in DuoTherm vs. MR850 HH circuits (6 vs. 68 alarms, respectively; p<nn). DuoTherm products accumulated significantly less rainout for all three circuit sizes at all ambient temperatures. In general, the set flow rate did not dramatically affect the amount of rainout for adult and infant circuits, but low versus high ambient temperatures yielded increased rainout for all circuit types (p < 0.02). Conclusions:The DuoTherm HH device and patient circuits developed significantly less alarms due to rainout and low temperatures compared to those from MR850 under all the conditions tested. Such reduction in patient alarms should help reduce alarm fatigue among healthcare workers in critical care settings.

Reducing Ventilator Alarms Through Decreased Rainout in Ventilator Circuits: A Bench Study

Background:Alarm fatigue is a significant problem in healthcare, particularly in high acuity settings such as intensive care, surgery, and emergency departments. Alarms are triggered by various devices such as anesthesia machines, ventilators, patient monitors or humidifiers. Heated humidifiers (HH) used with mechanical ventilators, while necessary to prevent other complications associated with mechanical ventilator, may cause condensation in the ventilator circuit, prompting occlusion alarms indicating a risk for the patient. Technological advances in heated humidifier (HH) circuits may reduce rainout and therefore occlusion alarms. Methods:Bench experiments measured alarms and rainout of two commercially available humidifiers (AirLife DuoTherm™ and Fisher & Paykel MR850) and four different pediatric and adult patient’s breathing. The tests examined condensation accumulation after 24 hours of low-, nominal-, or high-flow rates of gas at low-, nominal-, and high-ambient temperature settings. Dual-limb designs of adult- and neonate-sized circuits underwent evaluation. Data on alarms was collected for each system.Results:Low temperature and occlusion alarms were statistically significantly lower in DuoTherm vs. MR850 HH circuits (6 vs. 68 alarms, respectively; p<nn). DuoTherm products accumulated significantly less rainout for all three circuit sizes at all ambient temperatures. In general, the set flow rate did not dramatically affect the amount of rainout for adult and infant circuits, but low versus high ambient temperatures yielded increased rainout for all circuit types (p < 0.02). Conclusions:The DuoTherm HH device and patient circuits developed significantly less alarms due to rainout and low temperatures compared to those from MR850 under all the conditions tested. Such reduction in patient alarms should help reduce alarm fatigue among healthcare workers in critical care settings.

Computer Assisted Patient Monitoring: Associated Patient, Clinical and ECG Characteristics and Strategy to Minimize False Alarms

This chapter is a review of studies that have examined false arrhythmia alarms during in-hospital electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring in the intensive care unit. In addition, we describe an annotation effort being conducted at the UCSF School of Nursing, Center for Physiologic Research designed to improve algorithms for lethal arrhythmias (i.e., asystole, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia). Background: Alarm fatigue is a serious patient safety hazard among hospitalized patients. Data from the past five years, showed that alarm fatigue was responsible for over 650 deaths, which is likely lower than the actual number due to under-reporting. Arrhythmia alarms are a common source of false alarms and 90% are false. While clinical scientists have implemented a number of interventions to reduce these types of alarms (e.g., customized alarm settings; daily skin electrode changes; disposable vs. non-disposable lead wires; and education), only minor improvements have been made. This is likely as these interventions do not address the primary problem of false arrhythmia alarms, namely deficient and outdated arrhythmia algorithms. In this chapter we will describe a number of ECG features associated with false arrhythmia alarms. In addition, we briefly discuss an annotation effort our group has undertaken to improve lethal arrhythmia algorithms.

Alarm fatigue in infusion pumps in the pediatric context: integrative review / Fadiga de alarmes em bombas de infusão no contexto pediátrico: revisão integrativa

Objetivo: identificar as causas da fadiga de alarmes em estudos de usabilidade de bomba de infusão em terapia intensiva pediátrica. Métodos: Realizou-se uma revisão integrativa nas bases de dados LILACS, SciELO, IBECS, SCOPUS e MEDLINE. Resultados: Foram identificadas 1.164 publicações e selecionados seis estudos primários que emergiram em duas temáticas: compreender as causas dos alarmes da bomba de infusão que constou: biblioteca de fármacos incompleta, limites absolutos e relativos rígidos, falta de protocolo de preparo e administração de medicação, período de férias dos funcionários; e as medidas que podem evitar a fadiga de seus alarmes.Conclusão:falhas na usabilidade de bombas de infusão aumentam os alarmes desnecessários que podem promovem sua fadiga. A utilização segura de bombas de infusão demanda uma equipe que monitore suas práticas e atue promovendo mudanças no contexto de trabalho.

An Evidence-Based Initiative to Reduce Alarm Fatigue in a Burn Intensive Care Unit

Background Alarm fatigue occurs when nurses are exposed to multiple alarms of mixed significance and become desensitized to alarms to the point that a critical alarm may receive no response or a delayed response. In burn intensive care units, reducing the risk of alarm fatigue is uniquely challenging because of the critically ill patient population and the nature of burn skin injuries. Nurses and the interdisciplinary team can become fatigued and desensitized to alarms, decreasing response rates for necessary interventions. Objective To decrease the risk of alarm fatigue by using an initiative designed to reduce nonactionable and false alarms in a burn intensive care unit. Methods Baseline data (alarm count per patient-day by alarm type) were collected for 1 month before education and implementation of evidence-based interventions. Data were collected every 6 months for 2 years. Interventions A series of interventions included raising awareness of the risks associated with alarm fatigue, customizing alarm parameters and default settings, providing education on electrode placement and daily electrode changes, using physical reminders, and consistently sharing alarm data. The education, delivered in modules, aligned with the evidence-based interventions. Results Preintervention baseline data were compared to postintervention data at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. The results showed a significantly sustained reduction (P &lt; .001) in total alarm rate over time. Conclusion A quality improvement initiative based on evidence-based practice can contribute to a sustainable reduction in nonactionable and false alarms, ultimately improving patient safety.

The Current Situation and Influencing Factors of the Alarm Fatigue of Nurses’ Medical Equipment in the Intensive Care Unit Based on Intelligent Medical Care

After rapid development and reform, the health level and medical diagnosis and treatment capabilities of Chinese residents have been significantly improved, and high-quality medical resources have significantly improved the life safety and health of the masses. As the most concentrated area of medical equipment in the hospital, the intensive care unit produces the most alarms during the operation of the equipment. The intensive care unit nurses are responsible for heavier nursing work, and the problem of alarming in other departments is more prominent. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis and research on the current situation and influencing factors of the alarm fatigue of nurse medical equipment in the intensive care unit based on intelligent medicine. This article uses a variety of related methods such as literature data method and questionnaire survey method to deeply study the theoretical knowledge of intelligent medical treatment, medical equipment alarm fatigue device, and so on. The logistic regression analysis method is introduced to classify its influencing factors, and the analysis experiment on the influencing factors of the medical equipment alarm fatigue of nurses in the intensive care unit is designed. The nurses’ cognition of clinical alarms and the analysis of clinical alarm fatigue questionnaire data are studied. The alarm fatigue of nurses in the intensive care unit is at a severe level, which needs to be taken seriously in the intensive care unit. Unmarried, high-level positions, long working years, high professional titles, and high education are negatively correlated with alarm fatigue ( P < 0.05 ), and those without an alarm habit are positively correlated with alarm fatigue ( P < 0.05 ), and the number of night shifts per month is related to alarm fatigue. There is no correlation between them ( P > 0.05 ).