ECRI Institute unveils alarm management service

The ECRI Institute announced a new service to help hospitals fine tune their current alarm management practices. The service comes as the deadline of Phase I criteria for the Joint Commission’s 2014 National Patient Safety Goal approaches in January 2014.

The service enables hospitals to produce customized and implementable solutions to enhance alarm management, reduce alarm fatigue and improve patient safety, according to the institute. The service is built on four fundamental tenets, including the culture, infrastructure, technology and practices and policies.

“Hospitals should think of their efforts to improve alarm management as an investment in their patients’ safety,” said James P. Keller, Jr., vice president, health technology evaluation and safety. “Because it’s a big undertaking, and the complete requirements for the National Patient Safety Goal have to be in place by 2016, hospitals would be wise to get started with their planning now."

For more information, go here.