Ohio hospital successfully reduces false alarms

Responding to the increasing concern over false alarms from medical devices, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital formed a multidisciplinary task force and was able to reduce a large number of them, according to HealthLeaders Media. The Joint Commission published a Sentinel Event Alert on the subject in April 2013.

The task force was formed in January 2012 and focused on a 24-bed pediatric bone marrow transplant unit. The team learned that only 20% of cardiac monitors were correctly set, which accounted for many of the false alarms heard. The group also learned that false alarms increased if monitor electrodes are not replaced daily. Ultimately, the hospital was able to reduce the number of false alarms from 95% of all alarms to 50%, and the amount of time staff spent resolving the alarms was reduced from 15 to 10 minutes per shift.

Read the HealthLeaders Media story here.