AAMI renews efforts to reduce clinical alarm fatigue

Placing a spotlight a widespread and well-known problem, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) said it is continuing efforts to reduce problems associated with clinical alarms. The group's latest initiative is the development of new standards and guidance documents, as well as continuing conversations with stakeholders in the medical community.

AAMI held a two-day summit Oct.4-5 in Herndon, Va., to discuss alarm fatigue and other alarm-related issues. “The biggest challenge for everyone will be to keep the dialogue going,” said AAMI president Mary Logan.

The summit resulted in a list of priorities to frame the discussion, according to AAMI:

• Deepen industry’s understanding of use environment;
• Improve integration of alarms;
• Increase effectiveness of alarm management;
• Reconcile challenges and differences in use environments;
• Strengthen medical electrical equipment standards to more strongly support the environment of use;
• Clarify regulatory requirements; and
• Share illuminating practices with stakeholders.

New working groups will be created within the AAMI Foundation's Healthcare Technology Safety Council for related work on alarms, according to Logan, and AAMI also will collaborate on a proposed research agenda to identify gaps in research identified by summit attendees. Other participants in the summit included the American College of Clinical Engineering, the ECRI Institute, The Joint Commission and the FDA.