Telemetry Monitoring: Improvement Strategies for Everyone

Authors

Keywords:

telemetry, cardiac, monitoring, alarm fatigue

Abstract

Anyone who has worked in the clinical setting with telemetry monitoring recognizes this constant sound representing a patient’s heartbeat. Just as a guard stands watch, it reassures us that a patient is safe and well. However, over time the sounds of telemetry can also become background noise. What happens when the noise stops? Do you notice?

Alarm fatigue occurs when individuals are desensitized to the overabundance of alarms, leading to a delayed response to actionable alarms. The Patient Safety Authority (PSA) heard the warning alarm and ran towards the challenge.

Author Biography

Kelly R. Gipson, BSN, RN, Patient Safety Authority

Kelly R. Gipson (kgipson@pa.gov) is a project manager at the Patient Safety Authority. She started with the PSA as a patient safety liaison for the South Central region of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the PSA, she worked as the associate patient safety officer at WellSpan York Hospital in York, Pennsylvania. Her clinical background includes experience in medical/surgical, critical care, and recovery room settings, as well as on multiple hospitalwide shared decision-making committees.

References

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Najafi N. A Call for Evidence-Based Telemetry Monitoring: The Beep Goes On. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(11):1855–1856. Also available https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/1906997. Accessed August 15, 2018.

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Patient Safety Authority. Hospital Telemetry Event Investigation Tool. Accessed January 25, 2021. Also available: http://patientsafety.pa.gov/pst/Documents/Telemetry/TelemetryEventInvestigation_2020_10.pdf Patient Safety Authority.

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Patient Safety Authority. Telemetry Monitoring in PA—Tips and Strategies to Combat Alarm Fatigue. Patient Safety Authority website. http://patientsafety.pa.gov/pst/Documents/Telemetry/Telemetry%20Monitoring%20Tips%20and%20Strategies.pdf. Published 2020. Accessed March 9, 2021.

Sandau KE, Funk M, Auerbach A, Barsness GW, Blum K, Cvach M, et al. Update to Practice Standards for Electrocardiographic Monitoring in Hospital Settings: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2017;136(19):e273-e344. Epub 2017/10/05 doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000527. PubMed PMID: 28974521.

Luo B, McLoone M, Rasooly IR, Craig S, Muthu N, Won J, Ruppel H, Bonafide CP. Analysis: Protocol for a New Method to Measure Physiologic Monitor Alarm Responsiveness. Biomed Instrum Technol. 2020 Nov 1;54(6):389-396. Accessed January 28, 2020. Also available: https://meridian.allenpress.com/bit/article/54/6/389/449918/ANALYSIS-Protocol-for-a-New-Method-to-Measure

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ECG tracing of the cardiac cycles on black/blue background.

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Published

2021-06-17

How to Cite

Gipson, K. R. (2021). Telemetry Monitoring: Improvement Strategies for Everyone. Patient Safety, 3(2), 104–107. Retrieved from https://patientsafetyj.com/index.php/patientsaf/article/view/improving-telemetry-monitoring

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2021): Patient Safety—June 2021

Section

Patient Safety Initiatives
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