@article{ref1,
title="Why alarm fatigue is a pivotal issue that affects the acoustical design of healthcare facilities",
journal="Journal of the Acoustical Society of America",
year="2013",
author="Barach Md, Paul",
volume="134",
number="5",
pages="4041-4041",
abstract="The U.S. FDA and Joint Commission designated &quot;alarm fatigue&quot; the &quot;#1 priority in healthcare technology&quot; in 2011-2012, acknowledging that this acoustical problem results in hundreds of patient deaths and thousands of injuries. The healthcare facilities industry has been slow to recognize that &quot;alarm fatigue&quot; is partly a facility design issue: i.e., a cacophony of recurrent noises from myriad uncorrelated medical devices, set at maximum loudness, occurring in hard-walled, reverberant spaces (such as patient rooms, ORs, and ICUs) produce elevated stress, sleep impairment, disorientation, and dangerously irrational, potentially deadly behavior. &quot;Alarm fatigue&quot; has been addressed as a human factors problem elsewhere: e.g., nuclear plant control rooms (after Three-Mile Island) and aircraft cockpits. In healthcare, it is imperative to engage architects, designers, acoustical engineers facility engineering staffs, and clinicians, who represent the &quot;first line of defense&quot; as the medical device industry requires 5-10 years to implement solutions. The presenter co-led a delegation of 12 distinguished members of the acoustics profession to the national summit on &quot;alarm fatigue,&quot; Washington DC, 2011 and has co-authored peer-reviewed medical journal articles and a forthcoming FGI white paper on the subject. This presentation focuses on solutions, challenges, and the research roadmap needed to address &quot;alarm fatigue.&quot;<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0001-4966",
doi="10.1121/1.4830748",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4830748"
}