...Senior Services and Chronic Fatigue According to the National Institute of Health, fatigue is a "common clinical complaint among older adults for which multiple definitions and measurement instruments exist. Fatigue is often a symptom of underlying medical or psychiatric illness." One of the greatest problems with chronic fatigue is that, while it is common, it is almost impossible to diagnose consistently. While the symptoms of fatigue typically include chronic tiredness and exhaustion, many seniors also complain of physical or cognitive decline or an inability to complete tasks. Measuring "tiredness", "decline", or slower performance is very difficult and relative, thus the complexity in diagnosing chronic fatigue. Many researchers have added "qualifiers" to help understand a senior's troubles. Examples are defining the condition as cognitive fatigue, muscular fatigue, or emotional fatigue. Further complicating matters, chronic fatigue syndrome is an ailment in which the symptoms of fatigue have no medical conditions to explain the problems. Yet, the fatigue could be caused by any number of medical problems including hypothyroidism, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, lung disease, or even rheumatoid arthritis or depression. Misdiagnosing the problem could lead to severe complications by missing an underlying condition. Many times seniors will have a hard time explaining the changes the are occurring. Senior services providers are often able to relate what they have seen...
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...When working in the hospital setting, every health care worker has been exposed to many different types of sounds. Whether it is cardiac monitors, phone calls, patient call-lights, bed alarms, feeding pumps, or IV medication machines, nurses are exposed to an extraordinary amount of noises while at work. Being exposed to constant sounds can become exhausting over a 12 hour shift, and many nurses can develop alarm fatigue. Alarm fatigue is when clinicians can become overwhelmed due to the sheer number of alarms and therefore become desensitized (Joint Commission, 2013). Regardless if every alarm that sounds needs a clinical intervention, if nurses develop alarm fatigue, it can be hazardous to their patient’s safety. With alarm fatigue,...
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...motion sensor lights that can automatically turn on/off based on your presence in a room. • It can read changes in energy, detect heat and movement using infrared, microwave radiations and sound waves. • It has a capability to detect false alarms using dual technology motion sensor. • If any of the sensors are tampered automatic notification will be triggered. • It can also be useful in opening garage doors when it is approached by a car. • You can customize all notifications and setup threat levels based on your needs. Smoke detector • Smoke alarm provides a life saving warning to allow you to get out of the house in case of fire or smoke. • It can detect the purity of air and can give you the levels of different gaseous elements. • It can trigger the sprinkling system incase of a fire. • It triggers an alarm when you have lot of smoke coming from cooking in a kitchen. • It can monitor the temperature of the room and set the AC levels accordingly. • It can automatically open the doors and windows when a fire incident occur. • It can trigger notifications directly to the fire department in case of fire emergency. Gas leakage detector • It detects deviations from normal or base line conditions to produce an alarm. • It detects for any leaks or holes in the gas pipeline. • It can...
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...information: 1. Information related to the quality or health of the transmission signal, and 2. Information related to its own internal hardware/software integrity. The functional components of surveillance are performance monitoring and alarm/status monitoring, also known as alarm surveillance. In the national and international standards area for telecommunications operations, performance monitoring and alarm surveillance are classified as subcategories of the more general system management functional categories of performance management and fault management, respectively. Maintenance consists of both preventive and corrective procedures that are designed to (a) prevent troubles and identify potential troubles before they affect service, and (b) detect a network failure that impacts performance and make the appropriate repair(s). A typical seven-step maintenance process consists of: 1. Trouble Detection — Detect trouble by continuous monitoring, periodic tests, per-call or other pre-action tests, or other automatic processes. 2. Trouble Notification — Send notification of a specific event or condition to a local display or Operations System (OS). Trouble notifications include output messages and visual and audible alarms. 3. Service Recovery — Minimize the degradation of service by automatic or manual protection actions. 4. Trouble Verification — Determine whether the reported condition still exists. 5. Trouble Isolation — Isolate the trouble to its...
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...Monitoring central stations in Canada are the watchful eye on properties and Personal Safety. They dispatch the premises if there is any burglar alarm and contact the people on the calling list. Police response to "burglar" alarms dates back decades in many major communities, to the days when such alarms rang directly into the local station or precinct. Today the monitored alarm industry in North America is a huge multi-million dollar sector employing thousands of people across the continent. The growth of alarmed locations across the country spurred on by elevated "crime fear" indexes, and by the perception of elevated property crime levels. The growth in this industry has had a direct impact upon the demand for police services in our communities. The monitored alarm industry is a private sector anomaly. The alarm customer is afforded the right, in most communities, to free access to police services. However, they chose to employ a third party, the alarm monitoring company, to monitor their electronic alarm, and then to activate the services of the police, when required. It is an unfortunate historic fact that this activation is almost always improper, with 95% of the alarms responded to being false. For providing this service, the alarm company obtains a fee, and notifies the public policing agency who then attends the site of the alarm. ADT for example encourages retailers and businesses to participate in Code Adam, one of the largest child-safety programs in North America...
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...In a hospital setting, there are a plethora of noises being simultaneously heard by nurses. Although biomedical alarms measuring pulse oximetry readings, heart rate, blood pressure and EKG rhythms are the main culprits of alarms-there are also patient call bells, bed alarms, IV Pump signals, ventilator alarms, etc. Hearing such repetitive sounds for long periods of time leads professionals to become desensitized, decreasing alertness and confidence in the seriousness to respond to these alarms resulting in what is now coined “alarm fatigue” (Bridi, Thiago, Lyra de Silva, 2013). Leading the list of patient safety initiatives, Joint Commission has deemed alarm fatigue a safety concern and a top priority in healthcare settings. In January 2014,...
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...The AAMI Foundation recently published a new white paper as part of its HTSI Safety Innovations series that explores alarm management strategies from a military perspective. According to Daniel McFarlane, Sc.D. of Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories, the approaches being used across hospital settings continue to present similar challenges: ignored alarm signals because of fatigue, lengthy practitioner response rates to alarms, and provider confusion over which alarms are important. “The lack of actionable intelligence from alarm signals makes it impossible for nurses to effectively triage their multitasking among multiple patients,” noted Dr. McFarlane. “Each alarm feature considers only local conditions on separate sensors on separate instruments for separate patients. The result is an overwhelming rate of alarm signals from multiple devices associated with multiple patients that do not carry the context of information needed for nurses to understand the signals relative to their responsibility to triage their efforts.” There are 9 types of clinical context facilitated by an advanced alarm management platform that work together with advanced rules to reduce alarm fatigue and increase situational awareness: 1. Alarm Context: supplemental data delivered with an alarm or event notification; e.g. multiple data points including blood pressure, respiratory rate, and SpO2. 2. Patient Context: supplemental data about the patient derived from a real-time interface...
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...Combating Alarm Fatigue: A Matter of Life and Death Alarm Fatigue Nurses, especially in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), use information from a multitude of medical devices, particularly cardiac monitors, to guide them in providing care for their patients. Unfortunately, due to the frequency of unnecessary and false alarms, the devices that are meant to help nurses actually can do the opposite. Alarm fatigue can develop when a nurse is frequently exposed to an unnecessary number of alarms. "This situation can result in sensory overload, which may cause the person to become desensitized to the alarms" (Sendelbach & Jepsen, 2013. p.1). All nurses need to be aware of this important safety issue and institute practices to reduce the number of unnecessary and false alarms. History of Topic Over the last 60 years, many advances in clinical alarms and technology were put in place "to notify staff of equipment malfunctions or changes in patient condition" (Hannibal, 2011. p.418). In March 2012, a 17 year old girl sustained an anoxic brain injury and later died after the recovery room nurses failed to recognize and intervene when her respiratory condition and vital signs declined. This was because the alarms "were not properly set and was muted" ("Teen's death", 2013 p.61). "According to The Joint Commission's Sentinel Event database, hospitals voluntarily reported 80 deaths and 13 severe injuries that...
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...Alarm Fatigue Alarm fatigue is a growing national problem within the health care industry that links medical technology as a serious hazard that poses a significant threat to patient safety within hospitals across the country. Alarm fatigue occurs when nurses encounter an overwhelming amount of alarms thus becoming desensitized to the firing alarms. Alarm desensitization is a multifaceted issue that is related to the number of alarming medical devices, a high false alarm rate, and the lack of alarm standardization in hospitals today (Cvach, 2012). Desensitization can lead to delayed response times, alarms silenced or turned off, or alarms adjusted to unsafe limits, which can create a dangerous situation for the patient. Alarm fatigue has been identified as having negative effects on patients as well as healthcare professionals. Many hospitals have reported that alarm-related injuries have occurred due to the overwhelming amount of constant sounding alarms. Critical alarms cause nurses to tune out sounds, which in turn triggers the brain to adjust to stimulation, thus causing a healthcare professional to disregard the alarms. Hospital alarms can come from an array of devices including blood pressure machines, oxygen saturation devices, sleep apnea devices, fall prevention alarms, intravenous pumps, patient-controlled analgesia pumps, patient call systems, ventilators, telephones, anti-embolism pumps, and heart monitors. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the problem...
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...first step in Goldratt’s theory of constraints is to identify the system constraint and decide how to exploit the system constraints and subordinate everything else to that decision”( Chase,2006). To improve a process and increase efficiency, bottlenecks in the process must be identified. “To maximize the system production the slowest process must be improved, and all other processes are regulated to the speed of the slowest process”.(Taylor, 2008).One of the bottlenecks identified by me from my data analysis of the process of getting ready for work was when the alarm rings, whether to get up immediately or hit the snooze button and sleep a little more. I averaged an additional 10 minutes in the process because of hitting the snooze button of the alarm clock several times before finally getting out of bed. To overcome this bottleneck, I must wake up when the alarm rings for the first time and not hit the snooze time. I must go to bed earlier so that I get enough sleep and avoid the need for hitting the snooze button The other bottleneck identified by me in the process of getting ready for work was my preparation of the breakfast meal. In three out of the five days. I prepared an elaborate breakfast resulting in the addition of 15 minutes to the entire process. On the two days that I skipped breakfast due to...
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... | |Reference: |Effectiveness of bed alarms over bed rails in reducing falls in patients aged 65 and above | |Scope and Purpose. What are the scope and purpose of this document? What are the objectives, question, and target population (patients,| |consumers, students, etc.)? In other words, who are the recipients of the services outlined in the document? | |The paper focuses on bed exit alarms and their effectiveness in preventing bed falls. The scope and purpose of the paper is based on | |studies done by various researchers on bed alarms. The document’s target population includes patients, nurses and families. | |Stakeholder Involvement. What professions are represented in the document? Have members of the target population been consulted in the | |development of the document? What conflicts of interest are possible? | |Professions represented in the document include nurses, reseachers professors and editors. There is enough evidence that the members of| |the target population played a role in the documents development. Conflicting interest such as preference of bed rails over alarms are | |possible with the researchers not being able to exactly pinpoint the most effective method. | |Rigor...
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...Paper SEC/420 Alarm Systems Bells and whistles usually signify celebration and late night partying for the everyday hardworking, fun loving person. However, for the security professional those bells and whistles denote trouble, threats, and breaches. Alarms serve as a tool to alert security professionals and others who aim to protected assets, property and people. Alarms are devises installed in places such as schools, banks, homes, businesses, cars, and even on machines such as boilers and machines. Alarms come in many forms and designs all with the objective to identify an intrusion or malfunction and alert someone of the issue. The alarm system uses are determined by the assets, people, or property they are meant to protect. Other factors include budget, level of threat, and risk levels. Types of Alarms There are several types of electronic alarm systems. There are the movement detectors, magnetic reed switches, and distress or panic alarm systems. These systems are effective measures to detect intruders and alert security professionals of danger, intrusions, and emergency situations silently and audibly. Movement Detectors Movement detector alarm systems are devices that are connecting the detector to the alarm and activate the alarm when a breach occurs. The movement detector is installed on walls, at strategic locations throughout a building or facility. A movement detector system recognizes movement or heat and sounds an alarm when the detector is...
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...Alarm Clock Interview questionnaire Hi! I am conducting this study as part of my course requirement and to get a better understanding of the functionality of our iphone app. We are interested in understanding how people manage to figure out when a good time to try and fall asleep the night before to be well rested the next morning. Interview Background Information: I am going to first ask you a few questions about your background. This will help situate the data we gather and understand the context of the answers you will give us. 1. Are you currently employed full time/part time? Part time 2. Male/female: Female Male Male 3. Highest Education level: Senior year of college Senior year of college Senior year of college 4. Age group: 20-25 20-25 20-25 5. What year of college are you in? Senior Senior Senior 6. How many years have you used a smart phone? 4 years. 6 years 2 years 7. Do you have a good understanding at first glance how to use a new app I believe so. Looks simple Yes Strategy: I am now going to ask you a few questions about your iPhone applications. 1. Do you use any apps? Yes Yes yes 2. how many apps do you currently have on your smartphone? 7 13 9 3. Do you use them for school ex blackboard app? I do have the blackboard app No I don’t No I don’t 4. Do you use them for social media purposes? Of course Yes Yes 5. Do you have an alarm clock as an app on your iPhone...
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...Assignment Form Describe briefly your topic of interest (15 possible points): The area that was chosen for this assignment is alarm fatigue. Alarm fatigue has been described as the process that occurs when nurses are desensitized due to too many alarms that are sounding constantly. Often times, there is no clinical indication for alarms that are sounding. This leads nurses to make the assumption that certain alarms are not important or the alarms very simply become background noise. Alarm fatigue has become nationally recognized and is the National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) that was implemented by JCAHO for 2014. Medical alarms that are supposed to make nurses aware that something is wrong with the patient and prevent sentinel events have resulted in sentinel events. Some research has been done to show that alarms that were ignored is what led to the sentinel event occurring. I chose to research this area as I have witnessed this in the workplace over the years. I am reluctant to see what the outcomes of research on this subject will lead to and what protocol implementations will occur to meet the 2016 JCAHO deadline for this problem to be addressed. #1 Database (or collection) (30 possible points): Title of source: Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Location of source (URL): http://www.aami.org/htsi/alarms/library.html Owner or publisher: Healthcare Technology Safety Institute (HTSI) Describe (in your own words) the research...
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...Monitor Alarm Fatigue: The Effect on Nursing Care Monitor Alarm Fatigue: The Effect on Nursing Care Upon entering any busy hospital one can expect to hear an unpleasant uproar of alarm sounds. Bells, beeps, and chimes are all part of the noise-polluted environment that medical staff endures every day. A study of alarms at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, revealed a total of more than “350 alarms per patient per day” (Sendelbach & Funk, 2013, p. 378). Many medical devices have alarm systems; examples of these devices are pulse oximetry machines, bedside telemetry monitors, infusion pumps, and ventilators. These devices are essential to providing safe care to patients in many health care settings. The purpose of alarms is to increase patient safety by alerting health care providers of a deviation from a predetermined normal status. By design, alarms are highly sensitive so that they do not miss an important event; however, false alarms are very common. False alarms are generated when no valid triggering event occurs. The alarm can be caused by events such as patient movement, electrodes disconnected, poor sensor placement, or broken cables. “It is estimated that between 85 and 99 percent of alarm signals do not require attention” (The Joint Commission, 2013, para. 2). Excessive false positive alarms result in alarm fatigue. Alarm fatigue is “the lack of response due to excessive numbers of alarms resulting in sensory overload and desensitization”...
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