ED accreditation update. Hospitals put on notice: alarm management is a top priority for 2014.
Establishing alarm management as a new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG), The Joint Commission (TJC) is calling on hospitals to make the issue a safety priority, and to begin establishing policies and procedures designed to minimize alarm fatigue among clinical staff. Beginning on January 1,2014, hospitals need to begin identifying the most important alarm signals to manage based on input from staff as well as factors such as patient risk, and the potential for harm as demonstrated by the device's history. By January 1,2016, hospitals need to have policies and procedures in place for managing alarms identified in the first phase of the NPSG's requirements. Also, staff and independent licensed practitioners need to be educated about the purpose and proper operation of alarm systems that they are responsible for.
D000068:Accreditation; D056902:Clinical Alarms; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D061214:Patient Safety; D014481:United States