The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses has issued a Practice Alert with evidence-based strategies for nurses to reduce alarm fatigue and improve patient safety.
The strategies are intended to reduce false or non-actionable alarms and improve the effective use of these monitoring aids, according to the news release.
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1. Provide proper skin preparation for electrocardiogram electrodes to improve conductivity and decrease the number of false alarms.
2. Change ECG electrodes daily.
3. Customize alarm parameters and levels on ECG monitors.
4. Customize delay and threshold settings on oxygen saturation via pulse oximetry (SpO2) monitors.
5. Provide initial and ongoing education about devices with alarms.
6. Establish interprofessional teams to address issues related to alarms, such as the development of policies and procedures.
7. Monitor only those patients with clinical indications for monitoring.
More Articles on Alarm Management:
Joint Commission Issues Alert on Medical Device Alarm Safety
11 Recommendations to Reduce Alarm Fatigue-Related Errors
AAMI Comments on Joint Commission's Proposed Alarm Management Patient Safety Goal
