Alarm hazards top ECRI Institute's annual technology concerns for 2015

 

The ECRI Institute has released its annual top 10 list of medical technology concerns and for the fourth year, alarm hazards tops the list.

The independent nonprofit's annual Top 10 Health Technology Hazards highlights the leading safety topics the institute deems crucial for hospitals to address. “Technology safety can often be overlooked,” said James P. Keller, Jr., ECRI's vice president, health technology evaluation and safety, in a release. “Based on our experience, there are serious safety problems that need to be addressed. ECRI Institute recommends that hospitals use our list as a guide to help prioritize their technology-related safety initiatives.”

The 2015 list includes the following: 

1. Alarm hazards: Inadequate alarm configuration policies and practices
2. Data integrity: Incorrect or missing data in EHRs and other health IT systems
3. Mix-up of IV lines leading to misadministration of drugs and solutions
4. Inadequate reprocessing of endoscopes and surgical instruments
5. Ventilator disconnections not caught because of mis-set or missed alarms
6. Patient-handling device use errors and device failures
7. “Dose creep”: Unnoticed variations in diagnostic radiation exposures
8. Robotic surgery: Complications due to insufficient training
9. Cybersecurity: Insufficient protections for medical devices and systems
10. Overwhelmed recall and safety alert management programs

 The report lists each hazard, an overview of the issue and recommended action steps to aid healthcare facilities in their efforts to maintain a safe environment for patients and healthcare workers. The leading hazard, alarms, is a Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal. This year's report draws particular attention to alarm configuration practices. ECRI Institute is aware of several deaths and other cases of severe patient harm that may have been prevented with more effective alarm policies and practices. Recall management appears on the list for the first time and points to overwhelmed recall and safety-alert programs as a potential for serious consequences for healthcare facilities and patients. ECRI experts are concerned that existing hospital recall tracking programs are not keeping pace with the growing number of medical device recalls issued each year. FDA reports that the annual number of medical device recalls nearly doubled between 2003 and 2012, from 604 recalls to 1,190 annually.  To develop the annual list, ECRI Institute’s multidisciplinary staff of engineers, scientists, nurses, physicians and patient safety analysts draw on expertise and insight gained through testing and analyzing healthcare technologies including examining health technology-related problem reports from hospitals and health systems worldwide, and reports received through ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization.