Case Study
Yale New Haven Hospital Enhances Patient Safety with Advanced Alarm Management
Learn how Yale New Haven Hospital enhanced patient safety and streamlined alarm management using TigerConnect Alarm Management.
Overview
Yale New Haven Hospital is the flagship hospital of Yale New Haven Health System, comprising 1,541 beds across 31 adult and patient telemetry units. Known for its commitment to excellence in patient care, Yale New Haven Hospital is a critical part of the health system’s expansive network that spans Connecticut and Rhode Island. With a focus on advancing healthcare standards, the hospital continually seeks to enhance its clinical practices and patient outcomes.
Recognizing the importance of operational efficiency and clinical alarm safety, Yale New Haven Hospital’s leadership prioritized improving alarm management across its facilities. Faced with the challenge of not knowing when alarms were actionable, along with the constant need to monitor alarms at the central station or bedside—many of which did not require any action—the hospital identified the need for a better way to manage alarms. The goal was to make alarms more actionable while ensuring proper alerts and escalation to the appropriate nursing staff. By implementing TigerConnect’s alarm management tool, Yale New Haven Hospital was able to channel various clinical systems, including bedside monitoring, nurse call, and infant security, into a single, cohesive alarm management platform.
Key Results
bedside alarm rates
number of alarms per bed
inpatient telemetry unit
The Challenge
Yale New Haven Hospital faced challenges in managing clinical alarms due to the lack of an effective system for monitoring alarms both at the bedside and at the nurses’ central monitors. While central monitors were in place at the nurses’ station, there was no efficient way to properly oversee all the alarms coming in.
The challenge was clear: Yale New Haven Hospital needed a comprehensive middleware solution that integrated existing clinical applications to improve interoperability and route relevant alarms to the right nurse to enhance patient safety and care quality
“At Yale New Haven Hospital, we do not have a telemetry war room or a bunker to have a dedicated clinician whose sole responsibility is to continuously monitor telemetry alarms. We needed a solution that was both practical and effective.”
— Laurie Devin, MSN, MBA, RN, CNML, Medicine Coordinator, Yale New Haven Hospital
The Solution
Yale New Haven Hospital turned to TigerConnect Alarm Management to address its alarm management challenges. This middleware technology allowed the hospital to integrate various clinical systems, including electronic health records (EHRs) and nurse call solutions, into a unified workflow.
By leveraging TigerConnect, Yale New Haven Hospital could route alarms to specific nurses based on their Epic assignments, creating accountability and improving response times. Nurses were alerted to critical alarms individually, following an established alarm escalation workflow. Alarms were filtered to account for false positives, such as non-sustained alarms, reducing the time wasted on analyzing alarms that didn’t require action. This approach significantly enhanced the overall management of patient alarms.
“TigerConnect provided the ability to scale standardized workflows to other units simply with a copy-paste method within the middleware’s workflow configuration. The middleware allowed us to create interoperability between our clinic
The Results
Yale New Haven Hospital’s partnership with TigerConnect has proven to be a game-changer in alarm management. The implementation of TigerConnect’s alarm management middleware yielded impressive results at Yale New Haven Hospital. Key achievements included:
- 60% Reduction in Bedside Alarm Rates: By eliminating alarms of less than 15 seconds, many of
which self-corrected, the hospital reduced overall alarm rates by 60%. - Reduced Number of Alarms per Bed by 8%: The hospital saw an average reduction in alarms per
bed, with some units experiencing even greater improvements. - Improved Patient Care: By focusing on critical alarms and reducing unnecessary distractions, the hospital enhanced the quality of care provided to patients, with fewer serious events reported.
“TigerConnect provided the ability to scale standardized workflows to other units simply with a copy-paste method within the middleware’s workflow configuration. The middleware allowed us to create interoperability between our clinical applications and hardware.”
— Laurie Devin, MSN, MBA, RN, CNML, Medicine Coordinator, Yale New Haven Hospital
