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Connecting the alarms from the ICU devices to the medical staff helped to adjust the load distribution and avoid any possible post-traumatic stress on patients.
The key to overcoming the health emergency was connecting equipment to improve patient care monitoring. The main challenge is not overstressing medical staff. Alarms are constantly sounding, giving rise to what is called "alarm fatigue".
Being disturbed during a task is the leading cause of medical error, while alarms can lead to post-traumatic stress in patients.
To avoid disturbing care staff, relevant alerts need to be sent at the right time to the work smartphone of the nurse responsible for the patient. For this, the ICU relied on Ascom technology. 24 Covid-19 rooms were each equipped with around ten devices, from multi-parameter monitors to ventilators, which feed health information directly into the patient’s electronic file.
By reducing the triggering of alarms in emergency situations and saving caregivers' time, the system has helped to adjust the load distribution across all units and avoid ward saturation. Otherwise, care staff would have been forced to expose themselves by entering closed rooms several times a day and reporting manually collected health data into the patient record, reducing quality-of-care.
