Event details
Telemetry monitors are patient-worn devices that allow the patient's heart rate, heart rhythm, and other physiologic conditions to be assessed without restricting the patient to a bed. These devices allow cardiac patients to move around the facility while still being monitored. Monitors are designed to transmit an alarm signal to nursing staff if the patient develops a concerning heart rhythm or other condition that requires attention. The safety and effectiveness of a telemetry monitoring program depends heavily on the organization's alarm management strategy. Any failure to recognize or delay in responding to a potentially life-threatening change in the patient's condition could lead to severe harm.
As with any physiologic monitoring system, healthcare organizations must scrutinize all aspects of how telemetry alarms are initiated, how they are communicated, and how staff respond. The use of inappropriate alarm settings or notification processes can prevent staff from learning about a change in the patient's condition or may lead to frequent false alarms or nuisance alarms that overwhelm, distract, or desensitize staff—a phenomenon known as alarm fatigue. Either situation can result in valid alarm conditions being missed by staff, and thus a patient's deterioration going unnoticed.
Improvements in the way that telemetry systems are implemented and managed can help combat alarm fatigue and reduce the risk of alarm-related adverse events.
During this lab webcast, we will discuss:
- Alarm fatigue: what it is, why it is a concern, and how telemetry implementation decisions can contribute to this hazard
- Criteria for selecting patients for telemetry monitoring
- Policies and procedures for setting and disabling alarms
- Alarm escalation processes and secondary alarm notification systems
- Strategies to optimize the monitor watching function
The webcast will take place at 12:00 ET, 17:00 BST