Abstract
Many human factors and ergonomics problems are associated with clinical alarms, usaually referred to as ‘alarm fatigue’. Among these problems is the nature of auditory signals used to attract attention, as these signals are often difficult to learn, easily confusable, and sometimes prone to masking. Symptomatic of this problem is the poor quality of the audible alarms associated with a global medical device safety standard, IEC 60601-1-8. A project aimed at improving and updating these sounds according to best practice is being carried out. This paper charts the progress of this venture and summarizes the results and the published papers which present those results.
DOI
10.1177/2327857918071004
Publication Date
2018-06-01
Event
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society HealthCare Symposium 2018
Publication Title
Proceedings of the 2018 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care
Publisher
SAGE Publications
ISSN
2327-8595
Embargo Period
2024-11-22
Recommended Citation
Edworthy, J., Mcneer, R., Bennett, C., & Dudaryk, R. (2018) 'Updating an International Medical Device Standard: A Process for Audible Alarms', Proceedings of the 2018 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care, . SAGE Publications: Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2327857918071004