publish time

09/03/2024

author name Arab Times

publish time

09/03/2024

WASHINGTON, March 9, (Agencies): Hospital alarms, designed to notify staff of a patient's needs, have faced widespread criticism for being perceived as annoying. A recent study suggests that altering the sound of these alarms could address the issue of "alarm fatigue," a phenomenon linked to missed alarms and medical errors leading to adverse outcomes.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Critical Care, the report emphasizes the detrimental impact of alarm fatigue on patient safety, clinical workload, burnout, and overall interference with patient recovery. However, a study featured in Science Direct proposes a simple solution: replacing the standard beeping alerts with more musical sounds.

Conducted in collaboration with Joseph Schlesinger, an anesthesiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Michael Schutz, a music cognition researcher at McMaster University, the study highlights the recognized shortcomings of current alarm standards, such as learnability, detectability, and annoyance. The researchers found that musical-sounding alarms are equally recognizable but significantly less irritating than the traditional alarm signals in medical environments.

The study acknowledges that the problem extends beyond the sound itself; the sheer volume of alarms contributes to the issue. Observational studies indicate that a staggering 85–95% of alarms in critical care units lack clinical relevance, often causing what the study terms "better safe than sorry" alarm signaling. This excess of non-urgent alarms can lead to perceptual problems like inattentional deafness, where medical personnel, burdened with high cognitive load, may overlook crucial alarms.

One study cited in the research identified that out of 2,184 alarms, over half (1,394 alarms) were categorized as false alarms. By comparing the "standard alarm timbre" with a "synthesized xylophone timbre," the researchers found that musical-sounding alarms offer comparable recognizability while being significantly less bothersome than conventional medical alarms.

In conclusion, the study sees the adoption of musically informed alarm design as a promising initial step toward enhancing patient care and mitigating the challenges associated with alarm fatigue.