Independent experts evaluate hospitals’ progress towards alarm readiness and ensuring patient safety

​PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA — With just eight months left to meet the January 1, 2016, deadline for the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal on Clinical Alarms, hospital systems large and small continue to struggle with the requirements, which include establishing organization-wide policies and procedures, and educating staff.

The new Alarm Readiness Validation service from ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that is widely considered one of the nation’s leading experts on alarm safety, evaluates the progress hospitals have made to meet the requirements—and helps them see where they’re lagging. Led by ECRI Institute’s alarm safety experts, the on-site evaluation consists of the following elements:

Interviews with key administrative and clinical staff (i.e. Chief Nursing Officer, Chief Medical Officer), and directors or managers of departments such as critical care, cardiac telemetry, and nursing
Assessment of leaderships’ success at making alarm safety a top priority
Review of progress towards establishing alarm policies and procedures, and educating staff
Following the on-site review, ECRI Institute will summarize the findings and offer unbiased recommendations for next steps.

“Our new service aims to help hospital administrators improve patient safety and meet the Joint Commission’s requirements,” says Rob Maliff, director, applied solutions, ECRI Institute. “Hospitals should be getting nervous, because eight months is barely enough time to meet these requirements, especially if they have yet to address the gaps in their alarm practices.”
For many years, ECRI Institute has studied patient safety risks from alarm fatigue and other alarm-related hazards. With decades of hands-on experience in alarm testing and evaluation, alarm-related accident investigation, and interventions for process improvement, ECRI Institute has widely disseminated guidance on alarm safety. Many authorities cite ECRI Institute's recommendations, and the nation’s leading healthcare organizations have turned to its alarm safety experts for customized assistance.

Alarm hazards takes the No. 1 spot on ECRI Institute’s 2015 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list and recently released 2015 Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations. Alarm middleware is featured on its 2015 Top 10 Hospital C-Suite Watch List.

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