Contribution of Electrocardiographic Accelerated Ventricular Rhythm Alarms to Alarm Fatigue.
Sukardi Suba, Cass Piper Sandoval, Jessica K Zègre-Hemsey and 2 others
PMID 31043402WHAT IT FOUND
None of 223 true audible accelerated ventricular rhythm alarms in 23 ICU patients led to treatment, and none was linked to code blue or death.
Most AVR alarms were false, and only 1 true alarm was acknowledged in the record.
Key findings
01Of 4361 AVR alarms, 4137 were annotated as false; 223 true alarms occurred in 23 patients.
02None of the 223 true AVR alarms resulted in a clinical action, and none was associated with code blue or death.
03Only 1 true AVR alarm event was acknowledged by scanning an ECG rhythm strip into the EHR.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was retrospective, so the researchers could not tell whether true AVR alarms were noticed but not recorded or missed. It included only 23 patients with 223 true AVR alarms at one center, using one monitor brand and software version. The researchers could not determine why nurses pressed the silence alarm button. The authors' suggestion to change AVR alarms to inaudible text messages was not tested.
Declared interests
No conflict-of-interest statement is provided in the article text. The supplied publication types indicate research support, non-U.S. government.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that AVR alarms can be safely turned off. The study was retrospective, included only 23 patients with 223 true alarms, and did not test an alarm-setting change.