Critical alarms and patient safety. ECRI's guide to developing effective alarm strategies and responding to JCAHO's alarm-safety goal.

Alarm-safety issues are nothing new in healthcare. ECRI, for example, has emphasized the importance of alarm safety for many years. Yet patients continue to be injured or killed because of ineffective alarm coverage, inappropriate alarm use, and failure to hear alarms. And countless "near miss" incidents occur that are never reported. In July of this year, the U.S. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) intensified the focus on this topic in U.S. hospitals by making alarm safety one of its National Patient Safety Goals for 2003. Hospitals addressing JCAHO's recommendations for meeting this goal need to know what to do and what not to do. This special Guidance Article provides advice on just what JCAHO expects, how U.S. hospitals should respond to its initiative, and how much in the way of time and resources will be required. In addition, we detail our broad-based recommendations on improving alarm safety, which cover issues that are common to healthcare institutions around the world.