Health devices
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Alarm-safety issues are nothing new in healthcare. ECRI, for example, has emphasized the importance of alarm safety for many years. Yet patients continue to be injured or killed because of ineffective alarm coverage, inappropriate alarm use, and failure to hear alarms. ⋯ This special Guidance Article provides advice on just what JCAHO expects, how U. S. hospitals should respond to its initiative, and how much in the way of time and resources will be required. In addition, we detail our broad-based recommendations on improving alarm safety, which cover issues that are common to healthcare institutions around the world.
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Neonatal/pediatric intensive care ventilators provide temporary breathing support to preterm and critically ill children who require total or partial assistance to maintain adequate ventilation. Some ventilators are specifically designed for neonatal/pediatric patients, while others--which we call all-patient ventilators--can ventilate the full range of patients from neonates to adults. We evaluated six ventilators from four suppliers: Bird, Dräger, Hamilton, and Siemens. ⋯ We continue to stress the importance of thoroughly understanding the characteristics and use of every ventilator model in your facility. This means not only knowing the ventilator's modes, special features, and unique characteristics, but also knowing which alarm settings are appropriate and which are not. This article includes a review of the key points of that topic.