Joint Commission issues alert on ‘alarm fatigue The constant beeping of alarms and an overabundance of information transmitted by medical devices such as ventilators, blood pressure monitors and electrocardiogram machines is creating “alarm fatigue” that puts hospital patients at serious risk, according a new alert from The Joint Commission. We’ve been addressing alarm fatigue at the Johns Hopkins Health System since 2006. In April 2013, the Joint Commission, the … The number of conditions and therapeutics to be monitored, “alarm fatigue” caused by the large number of alarms, and a lack of commitment by hospital staff all can lead to dire consequences. Buy; Patient safety and regulatory agencies have focused on the issue of alarm fatigue, and it is a 2014 Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal. ... default settings on the cardiac monitor and an in-service for nurses on alarm fatigue. The Joint Commission has identified alarm management as a national patient safety goal and requires hospitals to take action to reduce unnecessary alarms as a condition of accreditation. In 2013, The Joint Commission issued an alarm safety alert ; they established alarm safety as a National Patient Safety Goal in 2014, with further regulations becoming mandatory in 2016. There are no conflicts of interest to declare. Research has shown that 80%–99% of ECG monitor alarms are false or clinically insignificant. The subsequent alarm fatigue contributes to delayed or reduced clinician response to alarms, which can lead to missed critical events and patient death. Journal of Clinical Engineering: July/September 2013 - Volume 38 - Issue 3 - p 97. doi: 10.1097/JCE.0b013e318298fc39. Patient safety and regulatory agencies have focused on the issue of alarm fatigue, and it is a 2014 Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal. Joint Commission Cites “Alarm Fatigue” as Patient Risk Author Information . • A Joint Commission infographic estimates that 85 -99% of alarms do not require clinical intervention. Alarm fatigue has been recognized as a contributing factor to clinical distractions, interfering with patient care. This overload ultimately results in a delay of an alarm being answered, and sometimes someone completely missing the alarm altogether (The Joint Commission, 2015). The recent Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal on clinical alarm safety highlighted the complexities of modern-day alarm management and the hazards of alarm fatigue. It has been noted that health care organizations should address alarm fatigue as mandated by the Joint Commission based on the higher number of alarms sounding in the critical care environment and based on factors influencing nurses to respond to the alarm. Design. This was a correlational and predictive quantitative study. 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