title: Understanding Clinical Alarm Safety.
abstract: Patient safety organizations and health care accreditation agencies recognize the significance of clinical alarm hazards. The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, a nonprofit organization focused on development and use of safe and effective medical equipment, identifies alarm management as a major issue for health care organizations. ECRI Institute, a nonprofit organization that researches approaches for improving patient safety and quality of care, identifies alarm hazards as the most significant of the "Top Ten Health Technology Hazards" for 2014. A new Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal focusing on clinical alarm safety contains new requirements for accredited hospitals to be fully implemented by 2016. Through a fictional unfolding case study, this article reviews selected contributing factors to clinical alarm hazards present in inpatient, high-acuity settings. Understanding these factors improves contributions by nurses to clinical alarm safety practice.
authors.affiliation: Carol Lukasewicz is currently a health care inspector in Seattle, Washington. She previously worked as a patient safety specialist at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Washington.Elizabeth Andersson Mattox is an adult acute care nurse practitioner and clinical program manager in the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle.
authors.forename: Carol L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Lukasewicz
authors.affiliation: Carol Lukasewicz is currently a health care inspector in Seattle, Washington. She previously worked as a patient safety specialist at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Washington.Elizabeth Andersson Mattox is an adult acute care nurse practitioner and clinical program manager in the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle. emattox@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Elizabeth Andersson
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Mattox
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D056902:Clinical Alarms; D004389:Durable Medical Equipment; D004868:Equipment Failure; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061214:Patient Safety