Rise in Alarm Fatigue Affecting Quality of Care

Rise in Alarm Fatigue Affecting Quality of Care

Monitoring devices are intended to oversee and track the various aspects of a patient’s health in order to improve safety. Sometimes these devices and their alarm systems have the opposite effect, overwhelming the caregivers instead of conveying important information.

“Alarm fatigue” is becoming more understood in the medical field and the Joint Commission recently highlighted this growing problem noting that a typical critical care unit has over 150 alarms per patient per day.

Experiencing this high volume of alarms, can cause sensory overload, and therefore make it more difficult for caregivers to differentiate the urgency of a specific alarm.

Our Critical Alert Oxygen gauges were designed for the sole purpose of mitigating the stress associated with alarm fatigue by clearly notifying patients and caregivers when an oxygen cylinder is full, running low, or needs changing. When Critical Alert senses the cylinder is empty, it provides a dual alert signal – an audible alarm but also visual, color-coded LED lights that can be seen from across the room. But Critical Alert also contains a “silence” feature that eliminates the audible element. This way if the alarm is silenced, a caregiver is still visually notified of an alert status, without adding to the alarm fatigue syndrome.

Our Critical Alert monitor not only provides peace of mind, but also coincides with the Joint Commission’s push of making alarm safety a top priority.

Contact our Sales Team today for more information on how MIJA can help deliver the solution you need.

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