Attitudes and practices related to clinical alarms.
BACKGROUND
The number of devices with alarms has multiplied in recent years, causing alarm fatigue in bedside clinicians. Alarm fatigue is now recognized as a critical safety issue.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if attitudes and practices related to clinical alarms have changed since 2005.


METHODS
The Healthcare Technology Foundation's Clinical Alarms Committee developed an online survey for hospital personnel that addressed attitudes and practices related to clinical alarms. They administered it in 2005-2006 and in 2011 and compared the results.


RESULTS
Respondents were asked about their level of agreement with 19 statements about alarms. Many of the statements revealed no significant differences between the 2 survey years, although some differences were apparent. Respondents to the 2011 survey were significantly more likely to agree with statements about alarm sounds differentiating the priority of alarm and the helpfulness of central alarm management. Respondents in 2011 were significantly less likely to feel that nuisance alarms occur frequently and disrupt patient care. Respondents also ranked the importance of 9 different alarm issues. In both years, they ranked frequent false alarms as the most important. In response to a new question in the 2011 survey, 18% of respondents reported patients' experiencing adverse events related to alarms at their institutions.


CONCLUSIONS
Since 2005-2006 when the first survey was conducted, not much has changed. False alarms continue to contribute to a noisy hospital environment, and sentinel events related to alarm fatigue persist. Alarm hazards are a significant patient safety issue.
Marjorie Funk is a member of the board of directors of the Healthcare Technology Foundation and is a professor at the Yale University School of Nursing in West Haven, Connecticut. J. Tobey Clark is president of the Healthcare Technology Foundation and director of instrumentation and technical services at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Thomas J. Bauld is a member of the board of directors of the Healthcare Technology Foundation and a biomedical engineer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for Patient Safety in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Jennifer C. Ott is secretary of the Healthcare Technology Foundation and a project manager and equipment planner for Northstar Management Company in St Louis, Missouri. Paul Coss is a member of the advisory board for Healthcare Technology Foundation and is a principal at Coss Associates in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Marjorie
M
Funk
J Tobey
JT
Clark
Thomas J
TJ
Bauld
Jennifer C
JC
Ott
Paul
P
Coss
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D056902:Clinical Alarms; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation; D061214:Patient Safety; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States