Ensuring Specificity as a Strategy for Increasing Alarm Safety

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

References

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