Affiliations: Departments of Neonatology, Children's National
Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA | The George Washington University School of Medicine,
Washington, DC, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. K. Rais-Bahrami, Department of
Neonatology, Children's National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, DC 20010-2970, USA. Tel.: +1 202 476 4683; Fax: +1 202 476 3459;
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Objective: Oxygen saturation (SpO_{2}) monitoring is an integral
part of patient care in intensive care units. Unfortunately, the clinical
application of this technology has been adversely affected by the unacceptably
high rate of false alarms, which has resulted in desensitizing the clinicians
to SpO_{2} alarms The SatSeconds™ alarm management feature
(Nellcor™) incorporates an integral alarm. The primary hypothesis is
that there will be progressive reduction in percentage saturation using the
SatSeconds™ alarm feature depending on the integral settings. Study design: 29 patients were monitored for 2 hours each with the study
monitor. Upper and lower oxygen saturation alarm limits were determined
individually and manually recorded and preset on the test oximeter for later
analysis of alarm events. Test oximeter display values were not used for
patient management. Audible alarms were silenced throughout the study. Results: Alarm events were recorded while the SatSeconds™ alarm
management feature was set at various points. With application of the
SatSeconds™ alarm management feature, there was an overall decrease
in alarms to 40% with a setting of 50 SatSeconds™. Conclusion: Application of an integrated alarm system such as SatSeconds™
alarm management feature allows caregivers to respond to clinically relevant alarms.
