Alarm compliance in healthcare: Design considerations for actionable alarms (in intensive care units)

Rosana Sanz-Segura*, Eduardo Manchado Pérez, Elif Ozcan Vieira

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
81 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Intensive care units are technologically advanced environments that are designed to safeguard the patient while their vitals are stabilized for further treatment. Audible and visual alarms are part of the healthcare ecology. However, these alarms are so many that clinicians suffer from a syndrome called 'alarm fatigue' and often do not comply with the task alarm is conveying. Measuring compliance with rules in the workspace and determining the success of a system belongs to the field of ergonomics and is based on data collected through task observations and scoring. In this paper, we will explore compliance with critical alarms by not only from their potential success or failure perspective but also from the perspectives of the clinician capacity, needs, and motivations to comply with alarms in critical environments. We will finally, reflect on further possible design strategies to increase compliance in critical care that are beyond following rules per se but through intrinsic motivation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED19)
PublisherCambridge University Press
Pages839-846
Number of pages8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Event22nd International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED 2019 - Delft, Netherlands
Duration: 5 Aug 20198 Aug 2019

Conference

Conference22nd International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED 2019
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityDelft
Period5/08/198/08/19

Keywords

  • Audible alarms
  • Compliance
  • Decision making
  • Design engineering
  • Design practice

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