Decreasing the Frequency of Medical Alarms

Poorly designed device Medical alarms can create not only problems with alarm recognition but also frequent false positive alarms. Two observational studies found that from 72 to 75% of alarms during routine general anesthesia did not require corrective action.36,37 Another study showed that only 3% of all auditory alarms during routine anesthesia monitoring represented a patient risk.38 Providers frequently must interrupt clinical tasks to silence these false positive alarms. More concerning is the fact that when alarms are unreliable, they tend to be ignored.21,39 This "cry-wolf" effect is a significant detriment to the optimal performance of alarm systems and may result in dire consequences when "true alarms" are ignored.

False medical or other alarms can be managed in two ways. Devices can be designed so that they identify and eliminate false alarms before triggering or users can manipulate alarm parameters to reduce false alarms. User manipulation can range from adjusting alarm thresholds40 to even turning the alarms off.22 There are no data describing how often operators reset alarm parameters to reduce false positive rates.

False positive alarms remain a significant problem. Few data exist on the incidence of resetting alarm parameters or at what parameter values alarm accuracy is optimized. Advances in alarm technology aimed at reducing false positives appear a promising alternative to resetting parameters.

From www.ahrq.gov