Date: 6 May 2023, Saturday (GMT+8) | 5 May 2023, Friday (GMT-5)
Time: 1000 – 1020 (GMT+8) | 2100 – 2120 (GMT-5)

Speaker:

Keith J Ruskin MD, FAsMA, FRAeS

Abstract:

Electronic medical devices are an integral part of patient care, monitoring a patient’s physiological parameters and providing vital life support functions. The alarms generated by medical devices are designed to warn clinicians about abnormal physiological parameters before a patient can be harmed. Life support devices such as ventilators and anesthesia machines also use alarms to warn healthcare professionals about potentially life-threatening failures. Alarm fatigue refers to an increase in a healthcare professional’s response time or a decrease in their response rate to an alarm after experiencing excessive alarms. Alarm fatigue occurs whe signals activate so often that operators ignore or actively silence them and is common in many professions, including medicine. This talk will discuss how to safely manage clinical alarms and offer countermeasures against excessive false alarms.