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Silent medical alarms

Create silent healing environments for patients. The Ascom silent medical alarm solution eliminates audible bedside alarms from selected medical devices (infusion pumps, ventilators etc.), while helping to ensure the alarm notifications are distributed to designated recipients via their smartphone. Alarm notifications and associated clinical data is also displayed on dashboards to provide a complete status overview of medical devices.

What is your role?
Clinician IT professional Hospital manager
What is your role?
Rounding nurse checks on sleeping patient connected to multiple medical devices.
35-40 dB
recommended maximum hospital noise levels from the WHO (World Health Organisation) - should not be higher than 35 dB at night and 40 dB during the day (10)

Audible alarms from medical devices should be heard by clinicians - not by patients - especially in relation to ICU and other critical care patients. That’s why we developed the Ascom silent medical alarms solution - clinicians get the alerts and data they want, while patients get the rest they need.

85 dB+
noise levels found across ICUs in the UK (14)

A study covering 5 UK intensive care units (ICUs) found that sound levels far exceeded the WHO (World Health Organisation) maximum noise level recommendations, during both day and night periods.

A nurse checking on a patient with a smartphone in her hand

Promoting a quiet healing environment

The Ascom silent medical alarms solution delivers alerts from silenced medical devices to designated clinicians’ smartphones, dashboards and/or PC monitors. That’s good news for patients and their familties who benefit from a quiet healing environment, and it also can be beneficial to clinicians as they only receive targeted alerts from the bedsides of the patients who are under their care. 

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Introducing Ascom's silent medical alarms

Healthcare professionals want quieter ICUs - but what about reliably distributing bedside device alarm notifications? How can devices such as infusion pumps operate in silent mode, whilst ensuring clinicians still get relevant alerts and data? See how Arcomed and Ascom worked together to solve these challenges.

Detail of caregiver's hand in blue surgical gloves holding the hand of a patient

Peace of mind

Ascom’s silent medical alarms solution increases peace of mind, so that important alarms won’t be missed. It also helps reduces clinician cognitive burden by filtering non-actionable alarms. All this is enabled by medical alarms being channeled to the appropriate team member(s).

This helps provide a more comfortable environment and better recovery rates thanks to a quiet bedside environment in both ICU and stepdown units.

Quietly effective

On top of its many features to improve communication and collaboration in the workplace, the Myco 4 smartphone can be used to receive medical device alarms that are silenced in the patient room. Together with Ascom applications, provides smart alert notifications that comply with IEC* medical alarming standards.

*IEC 60601-1-8 Medical electrical equipment – Part 1-8: General requirements for basic safety and essential performance — Collateral standard: General requirements, tests and guidance for alarm systems in medical electrical equipment and medical electrical systems.

Read more on Myco 4

Ascom Healthcare Platform highlights

Interoperable

Vendor-neutral, interoperable with existing and planned medical devices and communication systems.

Empower clinicians

Clinicians get context-rich, near-real-time data that is needed to make better care decisions.

Patient outcomes

Fast, targeted and informed responses by the right people at the right time can have a significant positive impact on patient satisfaction and recovery. 

Quieter workplaces

Filtered alerting and messaging helps improve productivity and staff morale. Calmer environments can also enhance staff satisfaction.

Scalable

Our solutions adapt to meet changing needs. They are scalable from an on-site system for a single department/ward, through to a multi-site hospital.

Solution support

From initial planning with Ascom Clinical Consultants through to installation, solution lifecycle support and training.

Crucially, the technology development work was done by clinicians instead of to clinicians. It meant we had genuine engagement with nurses and other stakeholders as we carefully planned the hospital from the start – taking in the views of estates, IT, domestic staff, porters, admin, allied health and medical staff
Natalie Forrest
Former Chief Executive Office and Chief Nursing Officer, Chase Farm Hospital
Clinician wearing scrubs, a surgical cap and surgical mask looking at monitor

Avoid work interruptions

Alarms from medical devices contribute to noise levels and increased anxiety for patients and families. That’s where Ascom’s silent medical alarms solution contributes to workflow effectiveness by reducing unnecessary work interruptions. It can minimise noise and could help lower stress levels for staff, patients and their families.

Elderly female patient reading a book in her bed

Improved patient wellbeing

It’s beneficial for a patient to have a quiet healing environment. Ascom’s silent medical alarms solution allows for closed doors, which promotes privacy and well-being, as well as enabling best-practice hospital hygiene to reduce the risk of infectious spread, such as hospital- acquired infections.

What customers say

Sengkang Hospitals, Singapore

Why Singapore's Sengkang Hospitals chose Ascom Telligence, and moved beyond traditional nurse care to achieve a true patient response system.

Hospital
Tyks Lighthouse hospital, Finland

The new Tyks Lighthouse Hospital in Turku, Finland, will receive its first patients at the start of 2022. Focus on patients is one of the principal values of the hospital and its translation into practice is ensured through functional planning and multiprofessional collaboration.

Hospital
Slingeland Hospital, Netherlands

Agile solutions in a healthcare crisis: learn how Ascom worked with a hospital to devise a patient-monitoring system for EWS calculation.

Hospital
See all customer stories
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Solution sheet
Solution sheet
Silent medical alarms
Ascom whitepaper
Ascom whitepaper
Reducing ICU noise to enhance patient care [Updated Nov 22] - UK
Overview brochure
Overview brochure
Ascom Healthcare Platform
Smart Nurse Call - Solution Sheet
Smart Nurse Call - Solution Sheet
Smart Nurse Call - Solution Sheet

Related pages

Mobile devices
Nurse Call Systems
Software

Support and training

Consulting services
Implementation and training
Support and maintenance

https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/coronavirus/global-increase-in-violence-against-nurses-since-pandemic-21-07-2022/

Journal of healthcare protection management: publication of the International Association for Hospital Security 26(1):81-99  DOI:10.1097/NNA.0b013e3181ae97db 

https://www.who.int/activities/preventing-violence-against-health-workers

Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare Releases Targeted Solutions Tool for Hand-Off Communications. Joint Commission Perspectives. August 2012, Volume 32, Issue 8.

https://www.healthitoutcomes.com/doc/healthcare-miscommunication-costs-lives-and-billion-0001

Factors associated with delayed rapid response team activation.Reardon, Peter M; Fernando, Shannon M; Murphy, Kyle; Rosenberg, Erin; Kyeremanteng, Kwadwo. Journal of critical care, 2018-08, Vol.46, p.73-78

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Colliver, Victoria; Kaul, Greta; Allday, Erin. Medical equipment generates millions of alerts, 'alarm fatigue.' SFGate,12 November 2014. 

Hospital Inpatient Falls across Clinical Departments. Mikos, Marcin; Banas, Tomasz; Czerw, Aleksandra; Banas, Bartłomiej; Strzępek, Łukasz; Curyło, Mateusz. International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021-08-02, Vol.18 (15), p.8167

WHO noise levels: Falk SA, Woods N. Hospital noise: levels and potential health hazards. The New England Journal of Medicine. 1973;289:774–81.

Ryherd EE, Waye KP, Ljungkvist L. Characterizing noise and perceived work environment in a neurological intensive care unit. J Acoust Soc Am. 2008;123(2):747-756. 

A Pragmatic, Stepped-Wedge, Cluster-controlled Clinical Trial of Real-Time Pneumonia Clinical Decision Support, Nathan C. Dean,  Caroline G. Vines, Jason R. Carr, Jenna G. Rubin,  Brandon J. Webb, Jason R. Jacobs,  Allison M. Butler,  Jaehoon Lee,  Al R. Jephson, Nathan Jenson , Missy Walker, Samuel M. Brown, Jeremy A. Irvin, Matthew P. Lungren, Todd L. Allen. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.202109-2092OC 

An overview of clinical decision support systems: benefits, risks, and strategies for success. Reed T. Sutton, David Pincock, Daniel C. Baumgart, Daniel C. Sadowski, Richard N. Fedorak and Karen I. Kroeker. npj Digital Medicine (2020) 3:17; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0221-y 

National Library of Medicine (2013) An investigation of sound levels on intensive care units with reference to the WHO guidelines. [online] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4056361/#:~:text=Patients%20in%20intensive%20care%20units%20%28ICUs%29%20suffer%20from,dB%20with%20a%20maximum%20of%2040%20dB%20overnight

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