To all provider staff,
I am writing to let you know about a new hospital policy on Clinical Alarm Systems. Our goal is to have functional and actionable alarms that alert staff to real changes in clinical condition, and to decrease excessive or false alarms. We adopted this new policy to comply with the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals.
We involved each nursing unit in development of a compendium of all clinical alarms in the hospital, which includes standard parameters, as well as when those standard parameters may be adjusted by the nurse or other staff by policy. For example, when a patient has chronic atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response, the bedside nurse may silence, but NOT disable, the heart rate alarm. Providers may additionally order adjustments to standard parameters beyond the appendix’s scope for patient-specific care. Alarm parameters will be set back to the standard parameters for each new patient.
Attached is a copy of the signed policy on Clinical Alarm Systems. Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the policy. It will also be available on the Harbor intranet, along with the alarm compendium as an appendix.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Chen, MD, MPH
Patient Safety Officer