ENSURING SPECIFICITY AS A STRATEGY FOR INCREASING ALARM SAFETY

Gul G., SEREN İNTEPELER Ş.

JOURNAL OF BASIC AND CLINICAL HEALTH SCIENCES, cilt.7, sa.3, ss.139-147, 2023 (ESCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 7 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.30621/jbachs.1251111
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF BASIC AND CLINICAL HEALTH SCIENCES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.139-147
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Clinical alarms, Critical care, Patient monitoring, Alarm management
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Background: Alarms are systems created to ensure patient safety. However, when its specificity is not ensured, false positive alarms occur, causing the crying wolf phenomenon and compromising patient safety.Purpose: This study aimed to decrease the number of false-positive alarms by ensuring the standardization and specificity of alarms.Methods: This prospective, quasi-experimental study with a pre/post intervention study was conducted in the adult intensive care unit of a training and research hospital through repeated measurements at the beginning and after the intervention.Results: The total alarm load decreased by 46% after the intervention, with the heart rate, saturation, and blood pressure alarms being reduced at a rate of 59%, 56%, and 23%, respectively. The hourly mean number of alarms decreased from 16.8 to 9. Differences between heart rate, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure alarms in terms of the parameter were statistically significant (p<0.05).Conclusion: The study showed that the number of alarms could be decreased by standardizing the alarms and ensuring specificity in the adult intensive care unit.