Affiliations: Department of Neonatology, Children's National Medical
Center, Washington DC, USA | Department of Neonatology, 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: kraisbah@cnmc.org
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.
