The 2010 death of a patient at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester attributed in part to a delayed response to device alarms signaling the patient's fast heart rate and breathing problems are not isolated incidents but rather indicative of a challenge facing hospitals all over the country, according to an ABC News report.
Hospitals staff members are succumbing to what has been termed as "alarm fatigue," which occurs when nurses, who hear hundreds of machine alarms alerting potential patient crises, tune out the sound due to overexposure.
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Citing FDA data, the report notes there were 566 alarm-related deaths in the United States between 2005 and 2008.
Experts say preventing the alarm fatigue phenomenon will require the efforts of device manufacturers and organizations that use the machines.
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