Multifaceted initiative to reduce "alarm fatigue" on cardiac unit reduces alarms and increases nurse and patient satisfaction.

Government Resource

Multifaceted initiative to reduce "alarm fatigue" on cardiac unit reduces alarms and increases nurse and patient satisfaction.

July 23, 2014

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; AHRQ.

Clinical alarms have been described as a serious patient safety issue. This article relates how one hospital implemented a series of actions reduce nuisance alarms in a cardiac unit and reports a substantial decrease in audible alerts with no subsequent adverse effects. Interventions included expanding limits for triggering heart rate alarms and collaboration between two nurses to design customized alarm parameters for individual patients.

Available at

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

Making Health Care Safer in Ambulatory Care Settings and Long Term Care Facilities (R18).

April 25, 2018

AHRQ 2012 Annual Conference.

April 4, 2012

AHRQ Announces Interest in Research About the Epidemiology of Patient Safety Risks and Harms in Ambulatory Health Care Settings.

February 25, 2015

Addressing opioid misuse.

April 2, 2014

Community-based health coaches and care coordinators reduce readmissions using information technology to identify and support at-risk Medicare patients after discharge.

August 13, 2014

Alarm Fatigue in Hospital Setting.

July 2, 2014

Medical Liability Reform & Patient Safety Initiative.

June 23, 2010

AHRQ 2010 Annual Conference.

December 1, 2010

AHRQ 2008 Annual Conference.

January 6, 2010

AHRQ 2009 Annual Conference.

January 6, 2010

Researching Implementation and Change while Improving Quality (R18).

April 23, 2008

PSO Privacy Protection Center.

November 5, 2008

Bar-Coded Medication Administration (BCMA).

September 24, 2008

AHRQ 2007 Annual Conference.

September 10, 2008

eMedication Monitoring.

March 30, 2011

TalkingQuality.

March 23, 2011

QualityTools™.

March 6, 2005

Patient Safety Challenge Grants.

March 6, 2005

Blood Thinner Pills: Your Guide to Using Them Safely.

June 21, 2006

AHRQ WebM&M: Morbidity & Mortality Rounds on the Web.

March 6, 2005

HCUPnet.

March 6, 2005

Quick Tips—When Getting A Prescription.

March 6, 2005

Twenty Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors in Children.

March 6, 2005

20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors.

March 6, 2005

Ways You Can Help Your Family Prevent Medical Errors!

March 6, 2005

Healthcare 411: medication safety toolkit.

March 18, 2009

Quick Tips--When Planning for Surgery.

March 6, 2005

Patient Centered Medical Home Resource Center: Quality and Safety.

May 20, 2015

AHRQ Impact Case Studies: Patient Safety.

October 14, 2015

Quality and Patient Safety.

April 6, 2016

Network of Patient Safety Databases.

July 10, 2019

Health Care–Associated Infections.

September 2, 2009

Pediatric Quality Indicators Overview.

July 15, 2009

Health Literacy.

March 31, 2010

Patient Safety Organization (PSO) Program.

March 12, 2008

Questions Are the Answer.

March 14, 2007

Health IT implementation stories: HANDS care plan tool seeks to improve nurse communication at handoff in AHRQ-funded study.

September 26, 2007

AHRQ Quality Indicators.

September 14, 2005

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).

March 6, 2005

Patient Safety Indicators Overview.

July 1, 2022

AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery.

June 21, 2017

Triggers and Targeted Injury Detection Systems (TIDS) Expert Panel Meeting: Conference Summary Report.

April 1, 2009

10-State project to study methods to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections in hospital ICUs.

March 4, 2009

Video on Tips for Taking Medicines Safely.

January 11, 2006

Patient Safety Tools: Improving Safety at the Point of Care.

June 22, 2005

Patient Safety Improvement Corps: An AHRQ/VA partnership.

June 15, 2005

Ambulatory Safety and Quality Program: Health IT Portfolio.

February 27, 2013

Improving Patient Safety Systems for Patients With Limited English Proficiency: A Guide For Hospitals.

October 17, 2012

Choosing a Patient Safety Organization

March 1, 2020

Health Care Simulation to Advance Safety: Responding to Ebola and Other Threats.

April 15, 2015

Taking Care of Myself: A Guide for When I Leave the Hospital.

June 2, 2010

10 Patient Safety Tips for Hospitals.

November 29, 2006

The Effect of Health Care Working Conditions on Patient Safety. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment.

March 6, 2005

AHRQ Patient Safety YouTube Channel.

May 13, 2015

National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports.

November 7, 2022

AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange.

April 30, 2008

AHRQ's News Now.

March 27, 2005

Research Activities.

March 6, 2005

National Quality Measures Clearinghouse (NQMC).

March 6, 2005

AHRQ Health Information Technology Division's 2017 Annual Report.

May 30, 2018

How PSOs Help Health Care Organizations Improve Patient Safety Culture.

September 28, 2016

Efforts To Improve Patient Safety Result in 1.3 Million Fewer Patient Harms: Interim Update on 2013 Annual Hospital-Acquired Condition Rate and Estimates of Cost Savings and Deaths Averted From 2010 to 2013.

December 10, 2014

Findings and Lessons From the Enabling Patient-Centered Care Through Health IT Grant Initiative.

February 27, 2013

Findings and Lessons From the Improving Management of Individuals With Complex Health Care Needs Through Health IT Grant Initiative.

November 27, 2013

Eliminating CAUTI: Interim Data Report: A National Patient Safety Imperative.

October 9, 2013

Findings and Lessons From the Improving Quality Through Clinician Use of Health IT Grant Initiative.

August 28, 2013

Saving Lives and Saving Money: Hospital-Acquired Conditions Update.

December 9, 2015

2013 Annual Hospital-Acquired Condition Rate and Estimates of Cost Savings and Deaths Averted From 2010 to 2013.

November 18, 2015

Findings and Lessons From the AHRQ Ambulatory Safety and Quality Program.

December 18, 2013

Advancing Patient Safety: A Decade of Evidence, Design, and Implementation.

December 9, 2009

A National Web Conference on Improving Health IT Safety Through the Use of Natural Language Processing to Improve Accuracy of EHR Documentation.

January 18, 2017

Fall Prevention in Hospitals Training Program.

October 4, 2017

Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture 2.0.

June 1, 2022

Introducing the AHRQ Ambulatory Surgery Center Survey on Patient Safety Culture.

June 24, 2015

Surveys on Patient Safety Culture.

April 27, 2023

Patient and Family Engagement in Primary Care: Case Studies.

June 15, 2016

Physician Burnout.

August 2, 2017

Transitioning Newborns From NICU to Home: A Resource Toolkit.

January 15, 2014

Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses.

April 30, 2008

Eliminating CLABSI: A National Patient Safety Imperative.

May 4, 2011

Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families.

March 22, 2017

Toolkit To Improve Safety in Ambulatory Surgery Centers.

May 17, 2017

National Scorecard on Rates of Hospital-Acquired Conditions 2010 to 2015: Interim Data From National Efforts to Make Health Care Safer.

December 21, 2016

SOPS Health Information Technology Patient Safety Supplemental Item Set for the Hospital Survey.

March 28, 2018

AHRQ National Scorecard on Hospital-Acquired Conditions Updated Baseline Rates and Preliminary Results 2014–2016.

June 13, 2018

Toolkit for Improving Perinatal Safety.

April 4, 2018

Toolkit to Promote Safe Surgery.

January 17, 2018

Pressure Injury Prevention in Hospitals Training Program.

October 18, 2017

Health Literacy Tools for Providers of Medication Therapy Management.

August 16, 2017

Explicit and Standardized Prescription Medicine Instructions.

January 21, 2015

TeamSTEPPS for Office-Based Care Version.

November 19, 2014

Improving Your Office Testing Process: A Step by Step Guide for Rapid-Cycle Patient Safety and Quality Improvement.

September 25, 2013

TeamSTEPPS 2.0 for Long-Term Care.

November 28, 2012

Community Pharmacy Survey on Patient Safety Culture.

October 24, 2022

CUSP Toolkit.

September 26, 2019

The Toolkit for Using the AHRQ Quality Indicators: How To Improve Hospital Quality and Safety.

May 30, 2012

AHRQ Safety Program for End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities—Toolkit.

February 4, 2015

Toolkit for Reducing CAUTI in Hospitals.

December 9, 2015

TeamSTEPPS 2.0 Core Curriculum.

June 11, 2014

The Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and User's Guide: An Instrument to Assess the Understandability and Actionability of Print and Audiovisual Patient Education Materials.

December 11, 2013

Related Resources

Smart infusion pump investigations after an unexplained over-infusion.

May 31, 2023

Patient Safety Innovations

Enhancing Support for Patients’ Social Needs to Reduce Hospital Readmissions and Improve Health Outcomes

March 29, 2023

Patient Safety Innovations

The I-READI Quality and Safety Framework: Strong Communications Channels and Effective Practices to Rapidly Update and Implement Clinical Protocols During a Time of Crisis

March 15, 2023

Examples of Medical Device Misconnections.

March 8, 2023

AHRQ-Funded Patient Safety Project Highlights: Improving Healthcare Safety by Engaging Patients and Families.

February 15, 2023

AHRQ Safety Program for MRSA Prevention.

February 14, 2023

Reinforcing the Value and Roles of Nurses in Diagnostic Safety: Pragmatic Recommendations for Nurse Leaders and Educators.

October 5, 2022

Rethinking use of air-safety principles to reduce fatal hospital errors.

September 7, 2022

A System in Need of Repair: Addressing Organizational Failures of the U.S.’s Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

August 17, 2022

Distributed Cognition and the Role of Nurses in Diagnostic Safety in the Emergency Department.

August 17, 2022

Diagnostic Centers of Excellence: Partnerships to Improve Diagnostic Safety and Quality (R18).

April 20, 2022

TeamSTEPPS® for Diagnosis Improvement.

March 23, 2022

New AHRQ SOPS® Workplace Safety Supplemental Items for Hospitals.

December 16, 2021 - December 16, 2021

Cardinal Health recalls Argyle UVC insertion tray due to missing instructions for use for the Safety Scalpel N11.

September 1, 2021

Safety committees need to proactively address the risk of accidental cerebral injection of intravenous (IV) drugs.

August 11, 2021

Reporting of death in US Food and Drug Administration medical device adverse event reports in categories other than death.

August 11, 2021

FDA Safety Communication: flexible bronchoscopes and updated recommendations for reprocessing.

February 24, 2022 - February 24, 2022

Use of an audit with feedback implementation strategy to promote medication error reporting by nurses.

November 25, 2020

Making Healthcare Safer III.

March 18, 2020

CUSP Toolkit.

September 26, 2019

Untangling infusion confusion: a comparative evaluation of interventions in a simulated intensive care setting.

September 18, 2019

A new approach of assessing patient safety aspects in routine practice using the example of "doctors handwritten prescriptions."

June 26, 2019

The computerized ECG: friend and foe.

April 10, 2019

Unintended patient safety risks due to wireless smart infusion pump library update delays.

March 13, 2019

Implementing strategies to identify and mitigate adverse safety events: a case study with unplanned extubations.

February 27, 2019

Reducing treatment errors through point-of-care glucometer configuration.

October 31, 2018

Mix-ups between epidural analgesia and IV antibiotics in labor and delivery units continue to cause harm.

October 17, 2018

How does audit and feedback influence intentions of health professionals to improve practice? A laboratory experiment and field study in cardiac rehabilitation.

April 12, 2017

AHRQ Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2016 User Comparative Database Report.

November 23, 2016

More than half a million heart surgery patients at risk of a dangerous infection.

October 26, 2016

See More About The Topic

Hospitals

Health Care Providers

Nurse Managers

Quality and Safety Professionals

Cardiology