The life cycle of an alarm. A conceptual model understanding clinical alarms hazards.

Abstract

To provide the safest and most effective patient care, alarms should be actionable, timely, and noticeable, they should clearly convey information, and they should be correctly addressed by caregivers. This requires that many things go right, from when a patient condition triggers an alarm to when an intervention is provided. Unfortunately, things sometimes go wrong. Find out where the process can break down, and how to prevent that from happening.