Home
Philips - Click here to navigate to the homepage

Search terms

Clinical Services
masthead banner image

A proven safety risk
Alarm fatigue

Patients and alarms

Patients and alarms

More than just a nuisance


The proliferation of alarms generated by monitoring systems is a growing concern for anyone committed to patient safety. Exposure to excess alarms in care settings, especially non-actionable alarms, can result in desensitisation among the clinicians that they are intended to alert, a syndrome called alarm fatigue.

Alarm fatigue can lead to reflexive silencing of alarms, breaking monitoring protocols and missing true positive alarms—placing a burden on caregivers and jeopardising their ability to care for patients.
When an alarm goes off you want to make sure it is clinically relevant.”

Ineke van de Pol

ICU nurse practitioner, St. Antonius Hospital, The Netherlands

masthead banner image

An insider’s view of
alarm overload

For short-staffed nurses, false alarms are more than annoyances. Most nurses say they are affected by alarm fatigue, 1 which can cause stress, depression, reduced productivity and burnout. This video attempts to illustrate what it’s like to care for a patient in today’s alarm-filled environment.
insider view of alarm overload youtube video thumbnail
Watch
and listen
Sound icon
Turn on your sound to get the full experience
masthead banner image

A quick survey

Taking alarm management from concept to reality

 

Discover where you stand when it comes to alarm management. We invite you to participate in this survey taking alarm management from concept to reality.*

 

* All data will remain anonymous.
Take the survey

Excessive false alerts
impact a hospital on many levels

Clinical icon
Clinical
Missing actionable alarms jeopardises patient safety.
Financial icon
Financial
Patient harm as a result of over-alarming can have costly repercussions from transfers to the ICU, extended length of stay and litigation.
Technical icon
Technical
The lack of alarm customisation for individual patients can create excessive nuisance alarms.
Operational icon
Operational
About 10% of nursing time is lost responding to non-actionable alarms.
Growth icon

Growth

 

A stressful, noise-filled work environment can contribute to staff burnout.
Regulatory icon
Regulatory
Non-compliance can be costly, as health care moves from volume to value-based care models.
masthead banner image

5 key facts about alarm fatigue


When you consider that patients, staff and families may be exposed to up to 700 alarms a day, 2 it’s no surprise that alarm fatigue is a serious problem. Yet few hospitals have comprehensive programs to manage “alarm pollution” and there is no clear evidence-based practice because no two patients or units are exactly the same. Understanding the scope of the problem is an important first step. Start by educating yourself and your colleagues with these facts from recent research.

Tell us a little about yourself and download the 2-pager.
Download now

Contact information

* This field is mandatory
*

Contact details

*
*
*

Company details

*
*
*

What does this mean?

Alarm management 101

Alarms are a good thing… aren’t they? Raise your team’s awareness about alarm fatigue with this module from a Philips alarm management consultant.

This downloadable and video drills down into the root causes and impact of the problem and shares research on how it is currently perceived.
Alarm Management 101 register thumbnail
Register to access the free online module.
Sign up
*

Contact information

* This field is mandatory
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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.
*
*

What does this mean?
Final CEE consent
masthead banner image

Subscribe

Become the alarm advocate in your unit. Now!

 

Tell us a little about yourself and receive 3 emails with material that can help you raise awareness about alarm management at your hospital.
Subscribe now
*

Contact information

* This field is mandatory
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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.
*
*

What does this mean?
Final CEE consent

Alarm management:
become the expert

Philips is
here to help

Learn about our proven methods
The price for patients thumbnail

The price for patients

Find out why you should protect your patients
Find out more

What drives alarm fatigue?

Discover new facts and approaches for making effective change
Learn more
What drives alarm fatigue thumbnail
Practical guidance thumbnail

Get some practical guidance

Success stories, exclusive case studies and proven solutions
Read more

Footnotes:

 

[1] Juniper Consulting. Junicon Web Survey, 2012.

[2] Cvach, M., "Monitor Alarm Fatigue: An Integrative Review", Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology, July/August 2012, pp. 268-277.

By clicking on the link, you will be leaving the official Royal Philips Healthcare ("Philips") website. Any links to third-party websites that may appear on this site are provided only for your convenience and in no way represent any affiliation or endorsement of the information provided on those linked websites. Philips makes no representations or warranties of any kind with regard to any third-party websites or the information contained therein.

I understand

By clicking on the link, you will be leaving the official Royal Philips Healthcare ("Philips") website. Any links to third-party websites that may appear on this site are provided only for your convenience and in no way represent any affiliation or endorsement of the information provided on those linked websites. Philips makes no representations or warranties of any kind with regard to any third-party websites or the information contained therein.

I understand