Why the study?
Nonactionable alarms threaten patient safety, but few studies have reported approaches to translate and sustain alarm reduction interventions in clinical settings.
Does an interprofessional team-based intervention reduce the number of nonactionable alarms in an adult intensive care unit?
Does an interprofessional team-based intervention reduce the number of nonactionable alarms in an adult intensive care unit?
A team-based intervention adjusting alarm settings significantly reduced total and nonactionable alarms in an adult ICU, addressing alarm fatigue.
May support team-based ICU alarm reduction; leaves open questions on sustainability and generalizability.
BACKGROUND: Nonactionable alarms comprise over 70% of alarms and contribute a threat to patient safety. Few studies have reported approaches to translate and sustain these interventions in clinical settings. PURPOSE: This study tested whether an interprofessional team-based approach can translate and implement effective alarm reduction interventions in the adult intensive care unit. METHODS: The study was a prospective, cohort, pre- and postdesign with repeated measures at baseline (preintervention) and post-phase I and II intervention periods. The settings for the most prevalent nonactionable arrhythmia and bedside parameter alarms were adjusted during phases I and II, respectively. RESULTS: The number of total alarms was reduced by 40% over a 14-day period after both intervention phases were implemented. The most prevalent nonactionable parameter alarms decreased by 47% and arrhythmia alarms decreased by 46%. CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to translate and sustain system-level alarm management interventions addressing alarm fatigue using an interprofessional team-based approach.
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Yeh et al. (2019) studied this question.
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