Abstract
Staff well-being and patient safety are undermined by false alarms in the ICU. This study focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of sound-induced actions in the ICU by assessing the distinctness and informativeness of alarm sound events as perceived by nursing staff. We investigated the alarm load in an adult ICU, with an emphasis on alarm durations and their impact on actionability. As a strategy to mitigate false alarms, we simulated the introduction of alarm delays and examined how this affected alarm characteristics across various vital parame-ters. Results demonstrate that the introduction of alarm delays reduce the num-ber of alarms remarkably, with a 10-second delay eliminating more than half of the alarms. Our results indicate that delays should be tailored to each specific vi-tal parameter and medical context. We further address key considerations for implementing alarm delays in alarm management practice.
Keywords
intensive care unit; patient monitoring; alarm management; sound-driven design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.553
Citation
Bostan, I., van Egmond, R., Gommers, D., and Özcan, E. (2024) ICU alarm management reimagined: Sound-driven design and the role of acoustic biotope, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.553
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Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
ICU alarm management reimagined: Sound-driven design and the role of acoustic biotope
Staff well-being and patient safety are undermined by false alarms in the ICU. This study focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of sound-induced actions in the ICU by assessing the distinctness and informativeness of alarm sound events as perceived by nursing staff. We investigated the alarm load in an adult ICU, with an emphasis on alarm durations and their impact on actionability. As a strategy to mitigate false alarms, we simulated the introduction of alarm delays and examined how this affected alarm characteristics across various vital parame-ters. Results demonstrate that the introduction of alarm delays reduce the num-ber of alarms remarkably, with a 10-second delay eliminating more than half of the alarms. Our results indicate that delays should be tailored to each specific vi-tal parameter and medical context. We further address key considerations for implementing alarm delays in alarm management practice.