Hospital workers face a tremendous amount of stress and pressure every single day, as their busy schedule demands that they keep up with various patient needs. Unless you have the ability to juggle what feels to be a thousand different tasks, it may be challenging to adequately manage everything that must be done within a single shift. To help combat these difficulties, hospitals use various alarms to treat patients and their many needs.
There are countless benefits to utilizing alarms in hospitals, as they can help staff to provide better patient care. Alarms can be used to remind staff of important tasks that need to be completed, such as administering medication or checking on a patient’s vital signs. Additionally, alarms can be used to monitor a patient’s health, such as their heart rate or blood pressure. This allows staff to quickly identify when a patient requires assistance and take the necessary steps to provide care. That said, there is one hidden danger associated with alarm use, and this is called alarm fatigue.
As a leading provider of hospital technology that benefits doctors, nurses, and other patient care professionals, the Symtech Solutions team would love to inform you about the dangers of alarm fatigue, and how our excellent products can help prevent this from occurring in your facility. Read below to find out more, or visit us online today!
What Is Alarm Fatigue?
Alarm fatigue is the condition of being desensitized to alarms, or becoming so accustomed to hearing them that they are no longer noticed. It can lead to decreased vigilance and increased risk of errors. It is a common problem in hospitals, where alarm systems are often set to go off frequently and for a variety of reasons. Alarm fatigue can cause nurses and other hospital staff to miss or ignore important alarms, which can put patients in danger.
Alarm fatigue is a serious problem because it can lead to life-threatening consequences. When workers become desensitized to the alarms, they may not notice when something is wrong. This can lead to some risky situations, as most times an alarm goes off, it is to indicate that an important task is required for the patient’s health and wellness.
In high-stress environments, hospitals and other medical care facilities need to take steps to prevent alarm fatigue. One way to do this is to limit the number of alarms that workers are exposed to. Another way to prevent alarm fatigue is to make sure that alarms are only used for truly critical situations. Training workers on how to deal with alarm fatigue is also important. That said, the team at Symtech Solutions recognizes that alarms are still an integral part of everyday medical care tasks, which is why we provide a wide range of technology-rich products that work great as alarms and much more!
How We Can Help
Our Acuity Wireless Emergency Call is the most advanced and cost-effective UL-certified wireless nurse call system on the market. We have created this technology with nurses and patient care experts completely in mind, as we know that these workers have some of the most important roles within medical care facilities. To best provide the assistance healthcare workers require, we offer various products that come with their benefits and features:
- The Acuity Wireless Emergency Call System
- HIPAA-Compliant Smart Voice Assistant (pairs perfectly with a smartwatch)
- Fall Prevention and Detection Smart Lamps
All three products are designed to help combat the dangers of alarm fatigue, as they give nurses and healthcare professionals a different approach to alarms, reminders, and much more. Best of all, due to our two-way communication features, our products give patients the ability to contact their provider whenever an emergency or need arises, giving nurses access to treat their concerns as soon as possible.
Acuity Wireless Emergency Call
Our Acuity Wireless Emergency Call takes nurse call technology to the next level, and it starts by removing the annoying wires that often affect placement and performance. These systems operate off battery power or a centralized power supply, making installation as easy as ever. Best of all, our system provides a wider range of coverage, as it offers both indoor and outdoor coverage so that nurses can be accessed no matter where they are.
Other amazing features include:
- Call Assurance LED — Indicates that help is on the way
- Hidden Staff Assist Button — Lets caregivers summon immediate staff support
- Cancel Button — Allows staff or residents to cancel the alarm
- Aux Alarm or Extra Call Cord Input — Provides flexibility for a second bed or alerting of bed exit, IV Pump, ventilator, and other safety devices
- Customized Labeling — Facilitates personalized faceplates with instructions or branding
- Call Cord — Can be used for traditional bedside nurse calls or auxiliary alarms
- Help — This button notified and summons assigned or the nearest staff
Smart Voice Assistant
Our Smart Voice Assistant makes for an excellent companion to our wireless emergency call, as it provides a tremendous amount of benefits for both patients and staff. This tool is entirely voice-activated, which is perfect for high “fall-risk” patients that may suffer an emergency far from their nurse call system. We have designed this product to give access to:
- Call for help by verbally saying “Help!” and have the alert sent through the Acuity system
- Resident check-ins can be done verbally and passively
- Bring the intelligence of smart voice assistance to every resident
- Set reminders
- Ask questions and more!
Fall Prevention and Detection Smart Lamp
In addition to our other anti-alarm fatigue products, we have developed a fall prevention and detection smart lamp that can highly benefit patients and their healthcare providers. Many healthcare facilities and hospitals deal with older patients on a daily basis, and these older patients are often at high risk of falling and hurting themselves severely.
Our fall prevention and detection smart lamp is made to help stop these damaging events from occurring, as their technology gives access to:
- Automatically senses when a resident gets out of bed and turns on the lights
- Detects when someone has fallen and verbally confirms with the resident if they need help
- Resident check-in can be done passively when the system detects the resident getting out of bed
- Alerts can be sent to mobile devices and Acuity master stations
- Smoke, air quality, and temperatures are built into each light
- No cameras and no wearables necessary to detect falls
Other Benefits Of Our Nurse Call Systems
- Enhanced patient care
- Improves your bottom line
- Improves staff performance
- Decreases alarm fatigue
- Decreases staff stress
- Promotes a quieter work environment
- Simple to use
- Better tracking of nurses’ time
- Helps improve staffing needs
- Allows more free time for staff
- Improves staff/patient relationships
- Provides great data to track, analyze, and improve customer care
- Improved patient satisfaction
CALL SYMTECH SOLUTIONS TODAY
If your healthcare facility is interested in improving its performance, while combating the negative effects of alarm fatigue, there is no better company to partner with than Symtech Solutions. Our goal is to provide the very best nurse call systems to make operations simpler and more efficient. Visit us online to find out more, or contact us today to purchase a system for your facility!