By Elizabeth Pray
Staff Writer
Beep, beep, beep.
If you’ve ever been in a hospital before, that’s the sound that permeates the air, a common indication of a machine operating. However, beeping can also be a warning, serving as an indication of a patient in distress.
Unfortunately, recent findings have shown that warning alarms are not always being answered, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of patients.
The Joint Commission, the national organization that accredits hospitals, has issued an alert addressing this disturbing problem plaguing hospitals across the country. They have attributed the problem of unanswered alarms with “alarm fatigue” – the result of hospital personnel spending so much time around incessant beeping.
After time, the sound becomes so commonplace that some staff inadvertently ignore the alarms, therefore becoming desensitized to them, according to an April 8 NBC News article.
With any job, the surroundings can eventually become so natural to us that we fail to notice them. It’s understandable that spending so much time around beeping can cause the sound to become second nature — a background noise. However, this shouldn’t serve as an excuse to ignore something so important as a life or death situation.
While “alarm fatigue” is not an officially documented disorder, it is still a serious problem that should be addressed. One investigation uncovered at least 200 alarm-related deaths within a five-year period, a result of hospital personnel either ignoring alarms or responding too late, according to an April 8 Associated Press article.
These deaths could have been avoided had that beeping sound been answered appropriately.
To some patients, that beeping noise might be their only mode of communication, an indication of needing help. A few years ago, I saw a situation where the alarm system a hospital had saved a family member’s life.
Rectifying this situation must become a priority for hospitals. While the common sound of beeping can be emitted from machines such as heart monitors or blood pressure machines, installing special alarm systems with certain beeps could help with distinguishing one from another.
Patients with more serious conditions or injuries could have their own distinct alarm. Establishing new guidelines requiring special training in alarms could help staff become more attentive and increase their response time to emergencies.
I support and applaud the Joint Commission’s move to increase the awareness of alarm fatigue and urge hospitals to take new measures. Although that beeping may come across as annoying to most, it could be that one deciding factor between life and death.
