Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
 | 
Online Publication Date: 01 Jun 2018

Reducing Infusion Pump Alarms Through Structured Interventions

DNP, MSN, RN, CNRN, VA-BC
Page Range: 87 – 95
DOI: 10.1016/j.java.2018.03.002
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Keywords: alarms; alarm fatigue; alarms management; infusion pumps
Copyright: Copyright © 2018 Association for Vascular Access.
Figure 1
Figure 1

Lean Six Sigma and plan-do-check-act model.

Figure 2
Figure 2

Distribution of baseline data of 886 alarms from 47 large volume pumps.

Figure 3
Figure 3

The weekly percentage of alarm change per patient day. Percentages are adjusted by patient-days.

Figure 4
Figure 4

Distribution of patient side occlusion alarms over the course of the study.

Figure 5
Figure 5

Summary of the findings showing that the site most often used is the antecubital (AC) area, followed by peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) and wrist.

Figure 6
Figure 6

Distribution of air in line alarms during the project.

Figure 7
Figure 7

Drugs associated with air formation that contribute to air in line alarms. Bicarb: Sodium Bicarbonate; meropenem ext inf: Meropenem Extended Infusion Cefepime; piperac/tazo Ext Inf: Piperacillin Tazobactam Extended Infusion; Saline: 0.9% Socium Chloride.

Figure 8
Figure 8

Summary of door open, free flow, and door closed alarms over the course of the project.

Figure 9
Figure 9

The top-4 drugs associated with these alarms and represent 55% of all door open, free flow, and door closed alarms.

Contributor Notes

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to donnarn142@gmail.com

CE indicates that continuing education contact hours are available for this activity. Earn the contact hours by reading this article and completing the test available at www.avainfo.org/JAVACE.

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