Alarm fatigue has been a focus of patient safety for the past decade. In 2013, the Joint Commission required that all hospitals implement alarm management policies and procedures. Since then, numerous interventions have been proposed, such as widening alarm parameter limits, customized settings, and secondary notification systems, but little has been published on their effects.
Ruppel and colleagues reviewed survey data from the Healthcare Technology Foundation to identify how health care professionals’ practices and attitudes have changed since the survey was first distributed in 2006. They found the following:
Although the survey results appear to indicate little improvement since 2006, the authors suggest that the results are influenced by the increased awareness of alarm fatigue and increased reporting of alarm-related events.
See Article, pp 114–123
Patients endotracheally intubated for more than 48 hours are at risk for postextubation dysphagia (PED). PED has been associated with poor patient outcomes, such as...
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