This is going to be a collaborative effort between you and me. I have identified the unsafe use of alarm systems which could cause alarm fatigue as a practice violation or area for improvement that poses a threat to patient safety in my area of practice (Hospital). In the intensive care unit where I practice, there are numerous alarm systems that go off randomly and not requiring actions. sometimes nurses have become desensitized, and alarm fatigued and so have missed or are slow to respond to alarms needing critical attention.
I have chosen NPSGs Goal 6:
Reduce patient harm associated with clinical alarm systems and the associated elements that need to be addressed are as follows:
1. Identify the most important alarm signals to manage based on the following:
– Input from the medical staff and clinical departments
– Risk to patients if the alarm signal is not attended to or if it malfunctions
– Whether specific alarm signals are needed or unnecessarily contribute to alarm noise and alarm
fatigue
– Potential for patient harm based on internal incident history
– Published best practices and guidelines
2. Establish policies and procedures for managing the alarms identified in EP 2 above that, at a
minimum, address the following:
– Clinically appropriate settings for alarm signals
– When alarm signals can be disabled
– When alarm parameters can be changed
– Who in the organization has the authority to set alarm parameters
– Who in the organization has the authority to change alarm parameters
– Who in the organization has the authority to set alarm parameters to “off”
– Monitoring and responding to alarm signals
– Checking individual alarm signals for accurate settings, proper operation, and detectability
3. Educate staff and licensed independent practitioners about the purpose and proper operation of alarm systems for which they are responsible.
Items 1-4 on the instructions are where I need help. for item 4 I only need the slides. I will take care of the video.