Study Aims To Improve Global Medical Device Standard on Auditory Alarms

The global medical device standard for auditory alarms in medical electrical equipment and systems used in hospitals and other health-care facilities around the world was first published in 2006. Despite widespread use of these alarm sets, research has shown that clinicians have difficulty learning and distinguishing between them even after repeated exposure, which can lead to time-critical delays or errors in patient care. A team of human factors/ergonomics researchers led by Judy Edworthy is testing newly designed alarm sets with the goal of updating the current standard. Read the article here:  https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/hfae-nfa060817.php