Ventilator Alarms in Intensive Care Units: Frequency, Duration, Priority, and Relationship to Ventilator Parameters

Ventilator alarms have long been presumed to contribute substantially to the overall alarm burden in the intensive care unit. In a prospective observational study, we determined that each ventilator triggered an alarm cascade of up to 8 separate notifications once every 6 minutes. In 1 intensive care unit with different ventilator manufacturers, the distribution of high-priority alarms was manufacturer dependent with 8.6% of alarms from 1 type and 89.8% of alarms from another type of ventilator. Alarm limits were not a function of patient-specific ventilator settings. Accepted for publication August 17, 2018. Funding: Supported, in part, by a grant from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI). The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal's website (https://ift.tt/KegmMq). Reprints will not be available from the authors. Address correspondence to Maria M. Cvach, DNP, RN, FAAN, Department of Integrated Healthcare Delivery, Johns Hopkins Health System, Room 631, 1830 Bldg, 1830 E Monument St, Baltimore, MD 21287. Address e-mail to mcvach@jhmi.edu. © 2018 International Anesthesia Research Society

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