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Jeanne Venella’s Alarm Fatigue Commentary in AAMI Horizons

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jeanne VenellaAlarm signals are disrupting patients’ recovery and exhausting clinical staff, according to a commentary published by Bernoulli Chief Nursing Officer Jeanne Venella, DNP, MS, RN, CEN, CPEN, in the Spring 2017 issue of AAMI Horizons.

“Drawing Up a New Game Plan to Reduce Alarm Fatigue” notes that 85 percent to 99 percent of alarms require no intervention on the part of clinical staff. In addition to alarm fatigue, this growing problem represents a significant risk to patient safety if caregivers arbitrarily adjust threshold settings on devices or shut them off completely.

The problem has become so severe that the Joint Commission made clinical alarm management a priority with its National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG.06.01.01), mandating that hospitals take definitive steps to implement policies and procedures to safely reduce and prioritize clinical alarms.

Venella explores the logical steps hospitals and health systems should take to get their alarm issue under control, including:

  • Assessing the current state of the clinical alarm environment, identifying and developing targets for reduction, and evaluating appropriate interventions, policies, and standards.
  • Performing a baseline alarm management study to separate clinically relevant alarms from non-actionable alarms and managing the ever-growing number of alarm-enabled medical devices.
  • Devising standards and strategies for executing on a clinical alarm management program

Writes Venella, “Alarm management is a classic example of interdisciplinary leadership, involving clinical, IT, biomedical engineering, and other departments. Alarm management is also much more than simply reducing non-actionable alarms; it’s a gateway for more seamless care and a way for hospitals to leverage hard data to make continuous improvements to its care and response processes.”

 

The Spring issue of AAMI Horizons is now online for AAMI members and subscribers. Follow Bernoulli on LinkedIn and Twitter for the latest news and updates.

Cleveland’s News 5 – Dead in Bed – report on opioids

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On November 18th Cleveland’s News 5 aired Dead in Bed: A deadly hospital secret. Dead in Bed is the result of a 5 month investigation that interviewed some of the nation’s most respected medical experts on why healthy patients are dying within hours of surgery.

Although the investigative report, stated it believed that new pain management standards implemented 15 years ago may be contributing to risk factors, seems like new news, the AAMI Foundation has been advancing safety in healthcare technology with initiatives on National Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring of Patients on Opioids and the Nation coalition for Alarms. Their kick off meeting National Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring of Patients on Opioids – in November of 2014 covered the Opioid and Sedative Use Increases the Risk of In-Hospital Cardiopulmonary Arrest and more.

This is an on-going issue that concerns the use and monitoring of patients being given opioids, Opioid deaths effects nearly everyone, regardless of race and has tripled over the last 20 years. This is a real issue that needs the healthcare industry’s attention.

To listen to the the full investigative here report from News 5 click here

To connect with the AAMI click here.

If you haven’t signed up for it there is still time to register for the Bernoulli sponsored webinar  “We See You When You’re Sleeping: Addressing Patient Safety Risks Surrounding Opioid-Induced Sedation” with presenter Jeanne J. Venella DNP, MS, CEN, CPEN on November 30th

Bernoulli Concludes Successful AAMI Foundation Patient Safety Event

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Bernoulli client—the Hospital for Special Care—delivered presentation on ventilator alarm management

AAMI Foundation Patient Safety Event

AAMIRepresentatives from Bernoulli and its client, the Hospital for Special Care (HSC), joined 100+ attendees and 18 leading healthcare organizations at the AAMI Foundation’s regional meeting in Chicago. The two-day conference featured presentations on continuous monitoring of patients receiving opioids, alarm management and improvements to infusion therapy safety.

Connie Dills, MBA, RRT, RPFT, Respiratory Practice Manager at HSC, a Connecticut-based long-term acute-care (LTAC) hospital, delivered an insightful presentation detailing the success the hospital has had using the Bernoulli One™ platform to reduce and manage alarms on more than 100 ventilators in their facility. Results cited in Ms. Dills presentation included:

  • An 80% reduction in ventilator alarms that require clinical action
  • Enhanced ventilator alarm response time
  • No serious ventilator-related safety events in more than 13 years

A detailed case study of HSC’s successes with Bernoulli One™ can be found here.

“Alarm management and continuous monitoring for patients on opioids are two of the top patient safety priorities in healthcare today,” said Janet Dillione, CEO of Bernoulli. “Bernoulli OneTM supports hospitals and health systems in their efforts to achieve full compliance with the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) on clinical alarm safety and also enables continuous, real-time surveillance of patients connected to virtually any medical device. Our partnership with the AAMI Foundation allow us to engage with thought leaders on the frontlines as well as other industry partners to address these challenges.”

Other healthcare organizations that presented included Roper St. Francis Health System, St. Mary’s Health System, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Evergreen Health, Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of Maryland Medical Center, Jefferson University Hospitals, Winchester, NCH Healthcare System, Hallmark Health, Western Maryland Health System, Allina Health, and Lancaster General Health. Bernoulli is a sponsoring partner of the AAMI Foundation’s Coalition for Alarm Management Safety and Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring for Patients on Opioids.

Bernoulli Presented with AAMI Patient Safety Sponsorship Award

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Bernoulli was presented with the Patient Safety Sponsorship Award at the AAMI Annual Conference Awards Ceremony in Tampa, FL.

From L-R: Mary Logan, President AAMI; Marilyn Flack, Exec Director, AAMI Foundation; John Zaleski, Executive Vice President and CIO, Bernoulli; and Phil Cogdill, Chair, AAMI Foundation Board of Directors.

From L-R: Mary Logan, President AAMI; Marilyn Flack, Exec Director, AAMI Foundation;
John Zaleski, Executive Vice President and CIO, Bernoulli; and Phil Cogdill, Chair, AAMI Foundation Board of Directors.

“Bernoulli’s level of partnership and involvement in working with the foundation and its stakeholders demonstrates its commitment to improving patient safety,” said Marilyn Flack, Executive Director of the AAMI Foundation. “I am very grateful to the Bernoulli team for their help in working to prevent patients on opioids from experiencing poor outcomes due to undetected opioid-induced respiratory depression and for their help in working to reduce non-actionable clinical alarms.”

Bernoulli is a premiere partner with the AAMI Foundation and works closely with the foundation and its stakeholders on two important patient safety initiatives: National Coalition for Alarm Management Safety; and the National Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring of Patients on Opioids.

Alarm management and continuous monitoring for patients on opioids are two of the top patient safety priorities in healthcare today. Bernoulli supports hospitals and health systems in their efforts to achieve full compliance with the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal on clinical alarm safety and also enables continuous, real-time surveillance of patients connected to virtually any medical device.

 

Visit Bernoulli at Booth 436 during AAMI 2016 Conference & Expo

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Bernoulli will be exhibiting at Booth #436 during the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) 2016 Conference & Expo, June 3-6, 2016, in Tampa, FL.

The Bernoulli team will be demonstrating patient surveillance capabilities and its unique clinical alarm solution, which leverages baseline alarm evaluations and smart alarm capabilities to reduce, rather than merely manage, clinical alarms. Bernoulli will also feature its next-level medical device integration capabilities, which supports advanced direct-to-device connectivity for EHR integration and real-time predictive analytics. Bernoulli is a sponsoring partner of the AAMI Foundation’s Coalition for Alarm Management Safety and the Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring for Patients on Opioids.

Interested in learning more? Please contact us today to schedule a meeting.

Bernoulli Key Sponsor of AAMI Foundation Alarm Management and Opioids Monitoring Coalitions

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Bernoulli, a recognized leader in real-time connected healthcare, announced that the company is now a partner with the AAMI Foundation to help educate hospitals and health leaders to enable improved patient safety. To learn more please click this link: 102215_BERNOULLI_AAMI-FINAL2