The ACCE Healthcare Technology Foundation recently did a study and survey to determine the impact of clinical alarms on patient healthcare. Task force chairman Toby Clark reported a number of limitations of clinical alarms and the impact they have on patient health. The study searched a database on fatality incidents where the word “alarm” was included in the product problem description. The search results showed an average of about 80 deaths a year during the period of 2002 to 2004 may be attributed to issues with medical alarms. Some of the alarm limitations the study identified by surveys are outlined below:
- Difficulty in Learning more than 6 alarm signals – ICU and Surgery have >> 6 Alarms
- Difficulty in discerning between high and low priority alarms
- Perceived urgency of alarms may not be consistent with criticality of situation
- False Alarms
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