According to a recent study, 19 out of 20 hospitals are concerned about the effects of alarm fatigue on their clinical teams and patients (1). Highlighting this and the real benefit of digitising alarm management, workflow and communication, Ascom is attending this year’s Futurescot Health and Care Transformation Conference (16th April).
Particularly in acute care environments, alarms are a vital component of ensuring patient safety and mitigating the risk of single occupancy rooms. But, as hospital wards have grown increasingly loud places to work, there is a real danger of clinical teams becoming desensitised to alarms.
While the introduction of some health technology has previously increased noise within clinical environments, now innovation has the ability to take some of that noise away. Turning loud alarms into more manageable and impactful alerts which trigger slick, digitally and data driven workflows.
Fiona Kirk, a former nurse with over 20 years of experience and now a clinical consultant for health communication specialist Ascom, said: “Acute care environments can be noisy and busy places and that can have a big impact not only on clinicians and nurses, but also patients and their wellbeing.
“While some noise is unavoidable and vital to the delivery of care and ensuring clinical and patient safety, others can be muted and replaced with smart management systems that alert the right people, at the right time. Ultimately, the technology available is making the lives of clinicians a little easier and ensuring every clinical second counts.”
Ascom’s clinical monitoring and alarm management systems provide frontline teams with near-real time patient data. Collected from connected medical devices, this insight and any alarm that needs to be raised is pushed through to the right people, at the right time via handheld smart devices and dashboards.
It saves the need for loud, intrusive alarms notifying all clinical staff, while also triggering effective workflows to manage the situation.
Unique to the market, Ascom’s technology can be used in conjunction with all medical devices.
In addition to showcasing it’s alarm management solution at the Health and Care Transformation Conference, Ascom will be demonstrating Unite Collaborate which enables patient-centric communication between clinical teams using prioritisation and secure messaging supporting handover and task management.
Edward Tickler, a senior sales consultant for Ascom, added: “As the NHS’ digital transformation continues at pace it’s wonderful to play a part in helping to manage the concerns of alarm fatigue and the impact noise can have on both staff and patient wellbeing.”
To find out more about Ascom visit Fiona Kirk and Edward Tickler at the Futurescot Health and Care Transformation Conference on 16th April.
(1) Wong, M. (n.d.). First National Survey of Patient-Controlled Analgesia Practices. Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety