Alarm Survey

Alarm sounds and/or visual displays should differentiate the priority of alarm.

Alarm sounds and/or visual displays should be distinct based on the parameter (e.g. Heart rate) or source (device type).

Nuisance alarms occur frequently.

Nuisance alarms disrupt patient care.

Nuisance alarms reduce trust in alarms and cause caregivers to inappropriately turn alarms off at times other than setup or procedural event.

The alarms used on my floor/area of the hospital are adequate to alert staff of potential or actual changes in a patient's condition.

Clinical staff is sensitive to alarms and responds quickly.

The medical devices used on my unit/floor all have distinct outputs (i.e., sounds, repetition rates, visual displays, etc.) that allow users to identify the source of the alarm.

Smart alarms (e.g., where multiple parameters, rate of change parameters, and signal quality are automatically assessed in their entirety) would be effective to use for reducing false alarms.

Smart alarms (e.g., where multiple parameters, rate of change of parameters, and signal quality are automatically assessed in their entirety) would be effective to use for improving clinical response to important patient alarms.

There is a requirement in your institution to document that the alarms are set and are appropriate for each patient.

When a number of devices are used with a patient, it can be confusing to determine which device is in an alarm condition.

Central alarm management staff responsible for receiving alarm messages and alerting appropriate staff is helpful.

Alarm integration and communication systems via pagers, cell phones, and other wireless devices are useful for improving alarms management and response.

Clinical policies and procedures regarding alarm management are effectively used in my facility.

Environmental background noise has interfered with alarm recognition.

Properly setting alarm parameters and alerts is overly complex in existing device.

Newer monitoring systems (e.g. <3 years old) have solved most of the previous problems we experienced with clinical alarms.

There have been frequent instances where alarms could not be heard and were missed.