With clinical context in their hands, caregivers at Isala Women and Children’s Hospital can make an informed decision to respond to an alarm, escalate to a colleague or rule it non-actionable.

Alarm management

Analysis, consulting, training and reporting services paired with configurable alarm technologies and tailored to your organisation.

Visual and audible alarms in critical care environments can be a contributor to medical errors, and can cause unnecessary stress and burden on caregivers and patients.¹ Some caregivers are flooded with 150 to 350 alarm conditions per patient per day². The result can include staff burnout and lost productivity, as well as unnecessary patient transfers to the ICU and extended lengths of stay.³

Download overview (2.86MB)

Talk to an Account Manager

Keep your focus on actionable patient alarms

Non-actionable alarm signals are often caused by motion artifacts, manipulation of the patient or patient movement, inappropriate alarm limits or faulty technology, and can divert time and attention away from patients.4 Our solution can be configured to alert caregivers when vital signs reach your chosen thresholds, and to remain silent when events are non-actionable. With a CareEvent that brings alarms and information to caregivers on the go toreporting and analysis tools, and consulting and clinical education services to fine-tune your approach, you can gain control over clinical alarms in critical care environments.

“After all the changes we made, we reduced our alarms by 40% – exceeding our initial goal by a quarter.”

–Ineke van de Pol

ICU nurse practitioner, St. Antonius Hospital

View case study (256.0KB)

Benefits

Clinical

Reduction in non-actionable alarms³and gaps in alarm protocol

Enhanced patient safety with possible fewer missed true positive alarms⁵

Improved sleep and rest⁶

Improved patient and family satisfaction⁶

Financial

Reduced patient length of stay⁷

Avoidable patient harm and potentially costly repercussions from transfers to the ICU, extended length of stay and litigation^8-14

Decrease in staff turnover⁶

Operational

Increased staff satisfaction, improved productivity and less burnout^4,15

Reduced alarm fatigue^5,16,17

Better use of nursing resources¹⁸(about 10% of nursing time is lost responding to non-actionable alarms)

Why invest in a healing environment?

Excessive, non-actionable alarms are a serious threat in healthcare. Hospitals and healthcare organisations may find the time is right for a comprehensive alarm management program because:

Alarm fatigue is leading to staff burnout, dissatisfaction and high turnover

An adverse patient event—or even death—is prompting an evaluation of processes

An organisational priority to create a more restful, healing environment for patients and families

Older equipment need to be upgraded and alarm analytics are now available as a feature

Responsive, intelligent alarm management

Philips Alarm Advisor helps enable clinicians to cut through the ding of non-actionable alarms and alerts them when set thresholds may be too sensitive.

The tool provides a notification on screen, prompting the clinician to evaluate that patient’s condition and either take action or customise the patient’s alarm limits.

Learn more about Philips Alarm Advisor on the Philips PIC iX central monitoring system

Resources

White paper

Alarm management from signal to action

(6.18MB)

Brochures

A strategic approach to alarm and noise management

(274.0KB)

Alarm and noise management consulting

(117.0KB)

Survey

Taking alarm management from concept to reality

5 key facts about alarm fatigue

Articles

Delirium and hospital noise

Videos

Alarm management 101

An insider’s view of alarm overload

Delirium and hospital noise

¹Ruskin KJ, Hueske-Kraus D. Alarm fatigue: impacts on patient safety. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2015 Dec;28(6):685-90 Wilken M, Hüske-Kraus D, Klausen A, et al. Alarm fatigue: causes and effects. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2017;243:107-111.

ECRI Top 10 Technology Risks 2017-18.

²Keith J. Ruskina and Dirk Hueske-Kraus, Alarm fatigue: impacts on patient safety, Volume 28, Number 6, December 2015

³www.aami-bit.org/doi/full/10.2345/0899-8205-46.4.268¬

⁴Multicentric study of monitoring alarms in the adult intensive care unit (ICU): a descriptive analysis”, Intensive Care Medicine, 1999, V: 12 E:12, pp. 1360-1366.

⁵Konkani A, Oakley B, Bauld TJ: Reducing hospital noise: a review of medical device alarm management. Biomed Instrum Technol 2012, 46(6):478-87

⁶Görges M, Markewitz BA, Westenskow DR: Improving Alarm Performance in the Medical Intensive Care Unit Using Delays and Clinical Context. Anesth. Analg. 2009, May 1, 108: 1546-1552

⁷www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6069923/

⁸AAMI Foundation. Clinical alarm: 2011 Summit convened by AAMI, FDA, TJA, ACCE and ECRI Institute. 2011. s3.amazonaws.com/rdcms-aami/files/production/public/FileDownloads/Summits/2011_Alarms_Summit_publication.pdf2016.

⁹ECRI Institute. ECRI Institute Announces Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2015. www.ecri.org/press/Pages/ECRI-Institute-Announces-Top-10-Health-Technology-Hazards-for-2015.aspx2016.

¹⁰Sendelbach S, Funk M. Alarm fatigue: a patient safety concern. AACN Adv Crit Care 2013;24:378–86. 10.1097/NCI.0b013e3182a903f9 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24153215

¹¹Kowalczyk L. Suit over cardiac monitor settled - MGH patient died despite alarms. Boston Globe 2011.

¹²Kowalczyk L. ‘Alarm fatigue’ a factor in 2d death - UMass hospital cited for violations. Boston Globe 2011.

¹³Drew BJ, Harris P, Zègre-Hemsey JK, et al. Insights into the problem of alarm fatigue with physiologic monitor devices: a comprehensive observational study of consecutive intensive care unit patients. PLoS One 2014;9:e110274

¹⁴1371/journal.pone.0110274 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206416/

¹⁵AAMI Foundation’s HTSI (Healthcare Technology Safety Institute): Using Data to Drive Alarm System Improvement Efforts: The Johns Hopkins Hospital Experience. Johns Hopkins Hospital 2012

¹⁶Welch J: An evidence-based approach to reduce nuisance alarms and alarm fatigue. Biomed Instrum Technol 2011, Spring;Suppl:46-52

¹⁷Imhoff M, Kuhls S, Gather U et al.: Clinical relevance of alarms from bedside patient monitors. Crit Care Med 2007, 35(suppl):A178

¹⁸Just a nuisance? Alarm management white paper

General disclaimer: Results of customer testimonies are not predictive of results in other cases, where results may vary.

How can we help you?

Contact information

* This field is mandatory

Country

First name*

First name (phonetic)

Last name*

Last name (phonetic)

Salutation

Academic title

Email address*

Business phone

Company*

Job title

Industry

Function

Specialty

Department

State or Province

City

Address

Zip or Postcode

By specifying your reason for contact we will be able to provide you with a better service.

We work with partners and distributors who may contact you about this Philips product on our behalf.

Follow up information

Preferred method of contact

Best time to call

Estimated time of purchase

Comments

I hereby consent to processing of my personal data and sensitive personal data (if any) and transfer of such data abroad, in accordance with the Privacy Notice that can be found here.

What is cross border data transfer?

I agree on cross-border transfer of personal information.

I hereby agree to receive by email or telephone information about Philips products, services, events and promotions, including information by mail that is appropriate to me, taking into account my activities and preferences, including the Expectations I have indicated / and in this form.

I agree that Philips may share my personal information with authorized resellers of its Philips products and equipment in order to meet my expectations as stated in this form.

I would like to receive marketing related electronic communications about Philips products, services, events, and promotions that may be relevant to me based on my user preferences and behaviour. I can revoke my consent at any time.

Final CEE consent