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Patient monitors: Health care is waking up to the hazards of alarm fatigue

by Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | July 20, 2011
From the July 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


According to Stankus, having visual cues has the added benefit of allowing a care provider to immediately find the source of the alarm, even in a room with multiple patients and in the case of multiple patient alarms going off, the different light colors can help set priorities.

DOTmed Registered Patient Monitors Companies


Names in boldface are Premium Listings.
Domestic
David Stopak, A. Imaging Solutions, AL
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Mary Mitchell, Biomedical Equipment Solutions, CA
Doug Rabkin, Buckeye Medical, CA
DOTmed Certified
Mark Charaf, Global Medical Sales and Repair, CA
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Kenn Matayor, Jaken Medical, CA
DOTmed Certified
Arnold Wiesel, MFI Medical, CA
DOTmed Certified
Scott Neary, Midstate Biomedical Equipment Services, CA
Andrew Bonin, Pacific Medical, CA
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
dario mondragon, pmi, CA
Sanjay Singh, Tenacore Holdings, CA
Judy Engle, Frontier Medical, Inc., CO
DOTmed Certified
Tom Yore, Ace Medical Equipment Inc, FL
Carlos Vargas, INCAV, FL
DOTmed Certified
ROBIN WYLIE, ACE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT INC, FL
DOTmed Certified
Leslie Roberts, Altra Medical, FL
James Fowler, BioMed Techs Inc, FL
Diego Orjuela, Cables and Sensors, FL
Woody Owen, Clinical Measurements Inc., FL
Moshe Alkalay, Hi Tech Int'l Group, FL
DOTmed Certified
Ronald Tarr, MEDELCO, FL
Clinton Courson, Quest Medical Supply, Inc., FL
DOTmed 100
Ted Turano, X-Stream Medical, IA
DOTmed Certified
Warren Zhu, EastShore Medical Supply , IL
DOTmed Certified
Richard Fosco, HealthWare Inc., IL
DOTmed Certified
Dennis Swaggert, Heartland Medical Sales/Service, KY
Kevin Blaser, Coast To Coast Medical, MA
Garret Purrington, Medical Equipment Dynamics, Inc., MA
Bob Gaw, PRN, MA
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Alda Clemmey, Saffire Medical, MA
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
John Gladstein, Medical Device Depot, MD
DOTmed Certified
Tom Kohman, Universal Hospital Services, MN
Nasser Saleh, Worldwide Medical Equipment, MI
Michael Fitzgerald, MaxMed, Inc., MN
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Tom Kohman, Universal Hospital Services, MN
Thomas Pigg, Sedation Equipment & Supply, MO
Joe Brock, Troff Medical, NC
George Fraza, DMS Topline Medical, ND
DOTmed 100
Alison Fortin, Global Inventory Management LLC, NH
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Charles Attle, TCL Technical Services, NJ
Abe Sokol, Absolute Medical Equipment, NY
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Mohamed Osman, Biomed Sky-Tech, NY
Jeovanni Rivas, Biomedical Technical Specialties, NY
Robert Schirano, Finger Lakes Medical Supply LLC, NY
Rotimi Osibogun, Timi & Daughters Inc., NY
Victor Landeros, OMED, NV
Rachel Seifert, Reliance Medical Sales, OK
Edmond Bright, Elite Biomedical, TX
Janet Lessnau, Hyperbaric Clearinghouse, Inc, VA
Philip Mothena, Simple Solutions, Inc., VA
Andy Stevens, Counterpane Inc., WA
Dorothy Marshall, Spacelabs Healthcare, WA
Dean Johnson, BioTech Services, Inc., WI

International
matin saeed kondori, Safari Medical Requisites L.L.C, United Arab Emirates
Thomas Koenigbauer, MED & IT Trading, Germany
Kelly Huang, Uni-tech Medical Supplies, Inc, China
Elin Fong, Clayton Technology Company Limited, China
Kevin Ming, Healthpower Technology Ltd., China
Ricky Lu, Shenzhen Jumper Medical Equipment Co.,Ltd, China
Jose Pinto, American Medical Systems And Supplies, S.A, Honduras
Johannes Hendradjaja, PT Intimedika Puspa Indah, Indonesia
Jimmy Wu, Bio-Technology Management & Services Pte Ltd, Singapore
Mensure Chang, Rayway Systrem Technology Inc, Taiwan


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Jose Morillo

ALARM FATIGUE. AN ENEMY EASY TO FIGHT

July 23, 2011 11:10

Never until now, nurses and medical personal was as expose to alarms detectors as now. Multiparameter monitors make possible measure almost any bilogocal parameter and asign, even automatically, alarms parameters for each one.

Two big problems are still present with alarms: 1.- Misadjusted alarms parameters that make it activate all time. 2.- Electrode, Transducers misconnections.

Both problems have solution. A correct alarm adjustment must consider the normal fluctuation of any parameter, human body is not a swiss clock. We must adjust alarms to levels that indicate a warning condition. It will mean a wider window of adjustment and a significative reduction of flase alarms (those alarms that haven't a clinical importance.

AN intelligent algoritm design can make monitors evaluate the alarm condition in a scale. Rarely the human parameters are independ one each other. Often a HR is follow or anteceded by an Arterial pressure variation, SpO2 or temperature variation. An "intelligent" monitor can evaluate, for example, HR from ECG and SpO2 at the same time two difference between an emergency condition and a loose transducer or electrode. it can consideer HR variation vs. Artery Pressure and/or SpO2 to determine a danger trend and launch a real alarm.
An intelligent ECG monitor can use as few as just 2 electrodes. Basically a ICU monitor is following Heart Rate, waveshape has no alarm itself. All alarm condition mean a frequency variation, soo 2 electrode are enough to check it. Always in case of doubt an ECG is maded with a full 12 electrodes ECG.

SpO2 and NIBP can be acopled. SUre a significative wave amplitude variation on SpO2 can mean an Arterial pressure variation. Monitor can launh a NIBP measurement to confirm BEFORE launch an alarm.

Parameter inter relations have no limits. A doctors and Biomedical team can make a new generation of Intelligents monitors.

Go ahead!

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