Ensuring Specificity as a Strategy for Increasing Alarm Safety

Year 2023, , 139 - 147, 30.09.2023

Gülnur Gül , Şeyda Seren İntepeler

https://doi.org/10.30621/jbachs.1251111

Abstract

Backround: Alarms are systems created to ensure patient safety. However, when its specificity is not ensured, false positive alarms occur, causing the crying wolf phenomenon and compromising patient safety.
Purpose: This study aimed to decrease the number of false-positive alarms by ensuring the standardization and specificity of alarms.
Methods: This prospective, quasi-experimental study with a pre/post intervention study was conducted in the adult intensive care unit of a training and research hospital through repeated measurements at the beginning and after the intervention.
Results: The total alarm load decreased by 46% after the intervention, with the heart rate, saturation, and blood pressure alarms being reduced at a rate of 59%, 56%, and 23%, respectively. The hourly mean number of alarms decreased from 16.8 to 9. Differences between heart rate, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure alarms in terms of the parameter were statistically significant (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The study showed that the number of alarms can be decreased by standardizing the alarms and ensuring specificity in the adult intensive care unit.

Keywords

clinical alarms, critical care, patient monitoring, alarm management

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