Hospital alarm management

Comprehensive support for an alarming problem

Alarm signal totals can range from 500 to 4700 or more in 24 hours on a single unit.

Non-actionable alarms strain hospital resources, contribute to alarm fatigue, and can affect the quality of your patient care. Desensitization may even become a matter of life and death.

Alarm fatigue has been identified as the top technology hazard for healthcare organizations¹ and is the subject of the Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals on Alarm System Management.

We are keenly aware of the problem. We help redefine your alarm system management program to deliver real-time actionable alarms and notifications necessary to speed response and early intervention.

With our comprehensive alarm management solutions and consulting services, your caregivers can get the right information at the right time for targeted care.

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Alarm System Management Strategies to Achieve National Patient Safety Goal Compliance

The problem of alarm management has become so widespread that as of December 2013, The Joint Commission introduced it as a National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG). The Joint Commission now requires its accredited hospitals to improve their alarm systems, aiming to alleviate the constant barrage of bells and whistles that are often the hallmark of a hospital stay for patients and that contribute to alarm fatigue for healthcare workers. With alarms poised in first place on ECRI’s “Top 10 Health Technology Hazards” list for the fourth consecutive year, the issue of alarm management is one that is critical to patient safety for healthcare organizations.

Read on

4 steps to successful alarm system management

We collaborated with a leading healthcare and life sciences consulting company to conduct an extensive evaluation and develop an action plan for successful alarm management intervention. This plan will help you develop a systematic, coordinated approach to clinical alarm system management at your hospital.

Download the evaluation

Download the guide

4 steps to successful alarm system management infographic

Improving alarm management across your organization

Clinical
Clinical

More clinical information. Less audible interruption.

Too many auditory alarm signals in the clinical environment can lead to staff interruption, patient and staff dissatisfaction, and may present potential patient safety issues. Our alarm system management solutions offer potential for improved patient care and workflow, a less hectic environment, and higher staff and patient satisfaction.

A systematic approach: Built-in tools, such as automatic alarm limits and patient centered profiles, can be customized as part of a systematic approach to alarm system management.

Customizable: Advanced event surveillance tools can be adapted to fit your patient population, reduce auditory interruptions, and support the early indication of clinical change.

Accountable: Systems allow mining rich data to investigate compliance with existing policies and protocols, as well as generate clinical quality improvement and quality assurance results.

Designed around you:

Consulting services assist healthcare organizations improve patient care and satisfaction through the use of technology, clinician engagement, and high performance clinical workflows.
Economic
Economic
Effective alarm system management for efficient operation

Decreasing clinician stresses, aligning clinical provider practice with reimbursement, and ultimately, improving the patient experience and quality of care are important goals for any ICU.

A focus on alarm system management can result in: :

Standardized practices

Engaged clinicians

Fewer false alarms

Improved workflow
Workflow
Workflow

Complex, multitasking workflow for clinicians on the move

The right systems, together with the right policies, augment your workflow to support clinical decision-making. Our alarm system management solutions contain features designed to facilitate care, improve workflow and reduce alarm fatigue.

Examples are:

Configurable: Alarm systems can be tailored to your unique environment.

Escalate: When clinicians are unable to respond, the alarm condition can be escalated by severity and/or distributed more widely.

Support: Many alarms are reduced because data is presented in clinically meaningful ways, helping to identify subtle changes of deterioration sooner and without alarm signals.

Consulting: Consulting services bring our expertise in technology, change management, and best practices to bear on your individual alarm system management needs.

Distribute: Alarm conditions can be distributed to clinicians on the go.
IT
IT

Standards-based information and distribution

Our alarm systems support IT solutions that facilitate adherence to guidelines, enhance caregivers’ ability to respond quickly and appropriately, troubleshoot problems when they occur, and support quality improvement programs. We can help you design and implement IT solutions that work.

Clinical performance: IT solutions can prioritize alerts and increase distribution to others as needed and provide escalation pathways for unacknowledged alarms.

Interoperability: Alarm system solutions are standards-based to support smooth interoperability with Philips, third-party devices, and hospital EHRs.

Consolidate workflow: External devices and other alarm systems (such as IV pumps, nursing alarm signals, etc.) are easily aggregated into a platform that simplifies and consolidates your IT workflow.

Mineable data: Rich alarm performance data reports provide key indicators to support quality improvement and quality assurance.

Fits in the IT Strategy: Uses standard IT technologies such as Windows operating systems, many supported as virtual machines.

Help is a phone call away: Remote Support Network Service helps you troubleshoot and understand alarms system management issues.

Standards: Integrations are developed in accordance with industry standards to facilitate alarm and alert management across the healthcare enterprise network.
Consulting
Consulting

A strategic alarm and noise reduction roadmap

Philips Healthcare Transformation Services provides strategic, vendor-independent alarm and noise management consulting services to help you reach your alarm system management and noise reduction goals. Our alarm and noise management consulting engagement includes:

Performance assessment: We conduct interviews, collect and analyze alarm data, evaluate workflow and monitoring practices, and assess alarm performance.

Improvement design: Based on our assessment and data analytics, we review your options, and develop an alarm system management strategy and roadmap that focuses on reducing non-actionable alarms.

Implementation and change management: We partner with you to prioritize, communicate, and implement selected changes.

Monitor results: Once complete we will re-evaluate alarm data and noise levels to assess the impact of implemented changes, create on-going support materials, and measure alarm with dashboard metrics.

Alarm management from signal to action

Our alarm management solution is an end-to-end solution designed to help you manage alarms and reduce fatigue, while providing the information you need, when you need it, to categorize, distribute and respond—virtually wherever you are.

View the solution

Philips_hospital_alarm_management_solution

Putting the patient first

Addressing patient safety

A missed, silenced, or unanswered alarm can have deadly consequences for your patients. This situation is characteristic of a multi-faceted problem that must include a look at the people, processes, technology, and culture of your institution. We can assist with a review, solution, and implementation plan.

Gaining patient trust

“If it doesn’t mean anything, then why is it going off?” This concern is all too common. Patients want to know that care providers are focused on what is important and relevant to their care and recovery. Our alarm systems management solutions help you gain back patient trust by helping you manage and reduce non-actionable alarms.

Resources

The next generation patient monitoring: Our IntelliVue Information Center iX
Our IntelliVue Information Center iX in action at Banner Health

White Papers

Webinars

Alarm Management Best Practices - recorded December 2015

Brochures / Overviews

1 Health Devices Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2014, Adapted from Vol. 42, Issue 11, Nov. 2013. ECRI Institute