RESUMO
This study explored the trajectory of patients who remained on a general unit after medical emergency team activation. Of those who had a second activation within 24 hours, 80% occurred within 12 hours of the baseline activation. Chest pain and recent intensive care unit discharge were associated with having a second activation. There were statistically, not clinically, significant associations between mean vital signs and second activations; however, the patterns of change may be clinically useful.
Assuntos
Equipe de Respostas Rápidas de Hospitais , Unidades de Terapia Intensiva , Admissão do Paciente , Dor no Peito/etiologia , Registros Eletrônicos de Saúde/estatística & dados numéricos , Feminino , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Alta do Paciente , Estudos Prospectivos , Fatores de Tempo , Sinais Vitais/fisiologiaRESUMO
Clinical research to identify effective interventions for decreasing nonactionable alarms has been limited. The objective of this study was to determine if a staff educational program on customizing alarm settings on bedside monitors decreased alarms in a medical intensive care unit (MICU). A preintervention, postintervention, nonequivalent group design was used to evaluate an educational program on alarm management in a convenience sample of MICU nurses. A 15-minute session was provided in a 1-week period. The outcome variable (number of alarms for low oxygen saturation via pulse oximetry [SpO2]) was determined from monitor log files adjusted by patient census. Data were collected for 15 days before and after the intervention. χ2 analysis was used, with P less than .05 considered significant. After 1 week of education, low SpO2 alarms decreased from 502 to 306 alarms per patient monitored per day, a 39% reduction (P < .001). Instructions for nurses in the medical intensive care unit on individualizing alarm settings to patients' clinical condition decreased common monitor alarms by 39%.