ABSTRACT
In 2011, a combination of governmental and non-governmental agencies, including the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), The Joint Commission (TJC), American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE), and ECRI held a joint summit focused on the issues surrounding alarm signal annunciation from medical devices. The Alarm Summit gave voice to many stakeholders, and shed a spotlight on the issues of alarm fatigue, false positive alarm signals, false negative events, and the challenges faced by clinicians in responding to medical device alarms. Some recommendations for alleviating alarm burden vary based on local protocols and on empirical findings that vary by health system, by department, and even by clinicians. For instance, some recommendations focus on 10-second or 20-second alarm signal sustained notification delays and tailoring alarms based on the type of care unit or even by patient.
