Silencing many hospital alarms leads to better health care
January 29, 2014
Alarms are good and necessary things in hospital care, except when there are so many of them that caregivers can’t keep track of the ones that signal a crisis that requires immediate attention. Then it may be that less technology can actually be more effective. In the case of Boston Medical Center, an analysis found that 7 North was experiencing 12,000 alarms Âa day, on average. That kind of cacophony was producing a growing problem known as “alarm fatigue.” (NPR)
