As reported in an April 30 press release from AAMI, nearly 100 healthcare technology stakeholders met last April in Arlington, VA, to kick off “an unprecedented two-year initiative to improve alarm management in healthcare.”
A noteworthy element of the first-ever meeting of the National Coalition for Alarm Management Safety, according to the report, was a debate over developing and publishing best practices: “Some attendees thought the process should rely on data already generated in the clinical environment, while others favored a nationwide clinical trial to gather additional evidence.”
Outcomes of the meeting included the following list of planned deliverables:
- A compendium of recommendations based on HTSI-produced alarm webinars and white papers, known collectively as the Safety Innovations series
- A list of recommended enhancements for the medical device industry to build into future software and product versions
- A compilation of aggregated parameter data supplied by the member hospitals
- Educational tools to teach clinicians about alarm settings and how to customize these settings for each patient
Over the next 2 years, according to the report, the goal of the alarm safety coalition is compile a list of suggestions on how hospitals can become “high-reliability organizations” and to write preliminary recommendations about the management of ventilator and infusion pump alarms.
Read more about the meeting on the AAMI website.
