As a member of the National Alarm Coalition sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the AARC has been working with a range of fellow organizations to further the safe and effective use of alarms in the nation’s hospitals.
Now that work has come together in a new resource called the Clinical Alarm Management Compendium. Just released by the AAMI Foundation, the document reflects the papers and webinars on alarm management found on the AAMI website, plus survey results and independent contributions from coalition members.
“Our goal is to get this into the hands of every Alarm Management Committee in each of the nation’s 5000+ hospitals,” says the AAMI. “This compendium has something for every hospital to use to improve patient safety by more effectively managing alarm signals – regardless of where the hospital is on its alarm-management journey.”
With Joint Commission surveyors set to begin documenting noncompliance with the second phase of the National Patient Safety Goal on clinical alarms on Jan. 1, the compendium could not be more timely.
The AARC’s involvement in the project grew out of a survey conducted by the Healthcare Technology Foundation (HTF) in advance of an AAMI Medical Device Alarms Summit in 2011. Since respiratory therapists made up 14% of respondents to an earlier survey conducted in 2005-2006, the HTF reached out to the AARC to garner an even more robust response in 2011. RTs ended up comprising 63% of the respondents to that survey, solidifying the Association’s place at the table.
The AARC’s participation in the AAMI Alarm Management Coalition is just one of example of the many ways the Association represents the voice of the RT to national groups and organizations seeking to improve patient safety and further the safe and effective practice of respiratory care.
Email newsroom@aarc.org with questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you.
