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Deschamps ML, Sanderson P, Waxenegger H, Mohamed I, Loeb RG. Auditory Sequences Presented With Spearcons Support Better Multiple Patient Monitoring Than Single-Patient Alarms: A Preclinical Simulation. HUMAN FACTORS 2024; 66:872-890. [PMID: 35934986 DOI: 10.1177/00187208221116949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE A study of auditory displays for simulated patient monitoring compared the effectiveness of two sound categories (alarm sounds indicating general risk categories from international alarm standard IEC 60601-1-8 versus event-specific sounds according to the type of nursing unit) and two configurations (single-patient alarms versus multi-patient sequences). BACKGROUND Fieldwork in speciality-focused high dependency units (HDU) indicated that auditory alarms are ambiguous and do not identify which patient has a problem. We tested whether participants perform better using auditory displays that identify the relevant patient and problem. METHOD During simulated patient monitoring of four patients in a respiratory HDU, 60 non-clinicians heard either (a) IEC risk categories as single-patient alarm sounds, (b) event-specific categories as single-patient alarm sounds, (c) IEC risk categories in multi-patient sequences or (d) event-specific categories in multi-patient sequences. Participants performed a perceptual-motor task while monitoring patients; after detecting abnormal events, they identified the patient and the event. RESULTS Participants hearing multi-patient sequences made fewer wrong patient identifications than participants hearing single-patient alarms. Advantages of event-specific categories emerged when IEC risk category sounds indicated more than one potential event. Even when IEC and event-specific sounds indicated the same unique event, spearcons supported better event identification than did auditory icon sounds. CONCLUSION Auditory displays that unambiguously convey which patient is having what problem dramatically improve monitoring performance in a preclinical HDU simulation. APPLICATION Time-compressed speech assists development of detailed risk categories needed in specific HDU contexts, and multi-patient sound sequences allow multiple patient wellbeing to be monitored.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Robert G Loeb
- The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
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Bingham MA, Cummins ML, Tong A, Purcell P, Sangari A, Sood A, Schlesinger JJ. Effects of altering harmonic structure on the recognition of simulated auditory arterial pressure alarms. Br J Anaesth 2023; 131:e178-e180. [PMID: 37758624 DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2023.08.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Revised: 08/20/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Molly A Bingham
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Mabel L Cummins
- Department of Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Anqy Tong
- Department of Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | | | - Ayush Sangari
- Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Aditya Sood
- Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Joseph J Schlesinger
- Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
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Sangari A, Bingham MA, Cummins M, Sood A, Tong A, Purcell P, Schlesinger JJ. A Spatiotemporal and Multisensory Approach to Designing Wearable Clinical ICU Alarms. J Med Syst 2023; 47:105. [PMID: 37847469 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-023-01997-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/23/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
In health care, auditory alarms are an important aspect of an informatics system that monitors patients and alerts clinicians attending to multiple concurrent tasks. However, the volume, design, and pervasiveness of existing Intensive Care Unit (ICU) alarms can make it difficult to quickly distinguish their meaning and importance. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of two design approaches not yet explored in a smartwatch-based alarm system designed for ICU use: (1) using audiovisual spatial colocalization and (2) adding haptic (i.e., touch) information. We compared the performance of 30 study participants using ICU smartwatch alarms containing auditory icons in two implementations of the audio modality: colocalized with the visual cue on the smartwatch's low-quality speaker versus delivered from a higher quality speaker located two feet away from participants (like a stationary alarm bay situated near patients in the ICU). Additionally, we compared participant performance using alarms with two sensory modalities (visual and audio) against alarms with three sensory modalities (adding haptic cues). Participants were 10.1% (0.24s) faster at responding to alarms when auditory information was delivered from the smartwatch instead of the higher quality external speaker. Meanwhile, adding haptic information to alarms improved response times to alarms by 12.2% (0.23s) and response times on their primary task by 10.3% (0.08s). Participants rated learnability and ease of use higher for alarms with haptic information. These small but statistically significant improvements demonstrate that audiovisual colocalization and multisensory alarm design can improve user response times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayush Sangari
- Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, 100 Nicolls Rd, Stony Brook, NY, 11790, USA.
| | - Molly A Bingham
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Mabel Cummins
- Department of Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Aditya Sood
- Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York, USA
| | - Anqy Tong
- Department of Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | | | - Joseph J Schlesinger
- Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
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Albanowski K, Burdick KJ, Bonafide CP, Kleinpell R, Schlesinger JJ. Ten Years Later, Alarm Fatigue Is Still a Safety Concern. AACN Adv Crit Care 2023; 34:189-197. [PMID: 37644627 DOI: 10.4037/aacnacc2023662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Ten years after the publication of a landmark article in AACN Advanced Critical Care, alarm fatigue continues to be an issue that researchers, clinicians, and organizations aim to remediate. Alarm fatigue contributes to missed alarms and medical errors that result in patient death, increased clinical workload and burnout, and interference with patient recovery. Led by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, national patient safety organizations continue to prioritize efforts to battle alarm fatigue and have proposed alarm management strategies to mitigate the effects of alarm fatigue. Similarly, clinical efforts now use simulation studies, individualized alarm thresholds, and interdisciplinary teams to optimize alarm use. Finally, engineering research efforts have innovated the standard alarm to convey information more effectively for medical users. By focusing on patient and provider safety, clinical workflow, and alarm technology, efforts to reduce alarm fatigue over the past 10 years have been grounded in an evidence-based and personnel-focused approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly Albanowski
- Kimberly Albanowski is Clinical Research Coordinator II, Section of Hospital Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Kendall J Burdick
- Kendall J. Burdick is Pediatric Resident, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02215
| | - Christopher P Bonafide
- Christopher P. Bonafide is Academic Pediatric Hospitalist, Section of Hospital Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Director of Pediatric Implementation Research, Penn Implementation Science Center at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics (PISCE@LDI); and Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Ruth Kleinpell
- Ruth Kleinpell is Associate Dean for Clinical Scholarship, Independence Foundation Chair in Nursing Education, and Professor, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Joseph J Schlesinger
- Joseph J. Schlesinger is Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, and Adjunct Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Rios D, Katzman N, Burdick KJ, Gellert M, Klein J, Bitan Y, Schlesinger JJ. Multisensory alarm to benefit alarm identification and decrease workload: a feasibility study. J Clin Monit Comput 2023:10.1007/s10877-023-01014-4. [PMID: 37133627 PMCID: PMC10154742 DOI: 10.1007/s10877-023-01014-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The poor design of conventional auditory medical alarms has contributed to alarm desensitization, and eventually, alarm fatigue in medical personnel. This study tested a novel multisensory alarm system which aims to help medical personnel better interpret and respond to alarm annunciation during periods of high cognitive load such as those found within intensive care units. We tested a multisensory alarm that combined auditory and vibrotactile cues to convey alarm type, alarm priority, and patient identity. Testing was done in three phases: control (conventional auditory), Half (limited multisensory alarm), and Full (complete multisensory alarm). Participants (N = 19, undergraduates) identified alarm type, priority, and patient identity (patient 1 or 2) using conventional and multisensory alarms, while simultaneously completing a cognitively demanding task. Performance was based on reaction time (RT) and identification accuracy of alarm type and priority. Participants also reported their perceived workload. RT was significantly faster for the Control phase (p < 0.05). Participant performance in identifying alarm type, priority, and patient did not differ significantly between the three phase conditions (p = 0.87, 0.37, and 0.14 respectively). The Half multisensory phase produced the lowest mental demand, temporal demand, and overall perceived workload score. These data suggest that implementation of a multisensory alarm with alarm and patient information may decrease perceived workload without significant changes in alarm identification performance. Additionally, a ceiling effect may exist for multisensory stimuli, with only part of an alarm benefitting from multisensory integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Derek Rios
- Department of Neuroscience Nashville, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37235, USA
| | - Nuphar Katzman
- Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, Beersheba, Israel
| | | | - May Gellert
- Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, Beersheba, Israel
| | - Jessica Klein
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1161 21st Ave South, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Yuval Bitan
- Department of Health Policy and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, Israel.
| | - Joseph J Schlesinger
- Division of Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA.
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Ribeiro Ferreira V, Pereira AR, Vieira J, Pereira F, Marques R, Campos G, Sampaio A, Crego A. Capturing the attentional response to clinical auditory alarms: An ERP study on priority pulses. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0281680. [PMID: 36795647 PMCID: PMC9934403 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 01/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Clinical auditory alarms are often found in hospital wards and operating rooms. In these environments, regular daily tasks can result in having a multitude of concurrent sounds (from staff and patients, building systems, carts, cleaning devices, and importantly, patient monitoring devices) which easily amount to a prevalent cacophony. The negative impact of this soundscape on staff and patients' health and well-being, as well as in their performance, demand for accordingly designed sound alarms. The recently updated IEC60601-1-8 standard, in guidance for medical equipment auditory alarms, proposed a set of pointers to distinctly convey medium or high levels of priority (urgency). However, conveying priority without compromising other features, such as ease of learnability and detectability, is an ongoing challenge. Electroencephalography, a non-invasive technique for measuring the brain response to a given stimulus, suggests that certain Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) components such as the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and P3a may be the key to uncovering how sounds are processed at the pre-attentional level and how they may capture our attention. In this study, the brain dynamics in response to the priority pulses of the updated IEC60601-1-8 standard was studied via ERPs (MMN and P3a), for a soundscape characterised by the repetition of a sound (generic SpO2 "beep"), usually present in operating and recovery rooms. Additional behavioural experiments assessed the behavioural response to these priority pulses. Results showed that the Medium Priority pulse elicits a larger MMN and P3a peak amplitude when compared to the High Priority pulse. This suggests that, at least for the applied soundscape, the Medium Priority pulse is more easily detected and attended at the neural level. Behavioural data supports this indication, showing significantly shorter reaction times for the Medium Priority pulse. The results pose the possibility that priority pointers of the updated IEC60601-1-8 standard may not be successfully conveying their intended priority levels, which may not only be due to design properties but also to the soundscape in which these clinical alarms are deployed. This study highlights the need for intervention in both hospital soundscapes and auditory alarm design settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasco Ribeiro Ferreira
- Psychological Neuroscience Laboratory (PNL), Research Center in Psychology (CIPsi), School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- Sustainable Health Department, Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
| | - Ana Rita Pereira
- Psychological Neuroscience Laboratory (PNL), Research Center in Psychology (CIPsi), School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Joana Vieira
- Ergonomics & Human Factors Group, ALGORITMI Research Centre, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal
- CIAUD Research Centre for Architecture Urbanism and Design, Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
- Center for Computer Graphics (CCG), Guimarães, Portugal
| | | | - Rui Marques
- Center for Computer Graphics (CCG), Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Guilherme Campos
- Institute of Electronics and Telematics Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Adriana Sampaio
- Psychological Neuroscience Laboratory (PNL), Research Center in Psychology (CIPsi), School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Alberto Crego
- Psychological Neuroscience Laboratory (PNL), Research Center in Psychology (CIPsi), School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
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Song J, Wang Y, An X, Ma S, Wang D, Gan T, Shi H, Yang Z, Liu H. Novel sonification designs: Compressed, iconic, and pitch-dynamic auditory icons boost driving behavior. APPLIED ERGONOMICS 2022; 103:103797. [PMID: 35576785 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2022.103797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2021] [Revised: 04/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
With the development of connected vehicles, in-vehicle auditory alerts enable drivers to effectively avoid hazards by quickly presenting critical information in advance. Auditory icons can be understood quickly, evoking a better user experience. However, as collision warnings, the design and application of auditory icons still need further exploration. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effects of internal semantic mapping and external acoustic characteristics (compression and dynamics design) on driver performance and subjective experience. Thirty-two participants (17 females) experienced 15 types of warnings - (3 dynamics: mapping 0 vs. 1 vs. 2) × (5 warning types: original iconic vs. original metaphorical vs. compressed iconic vs. compressed metaphorical auditory icon vs. earcon) - in a simulator. We found that compression design was effective for rapid risk avoidance, which was more effective in iconic and highly pitch-dynamic sounds. This study provides additional ideas and principles for the design of auditory icon warnings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaqing Song
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
| | - Yuwei Wang
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
| | - Xiaojiang An
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
| | - Shu Ma
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
| | - Duming Wang
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
| | - Tian Gan
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
| | - Hongqi Shi
- Wuhan Second Ship Design and Research Institute, Wuhan, 430064, China
| | - Zhen Yang
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China. http://
| | - Hongyan Liu
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China. http://%
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Burdick KJ, Gupta M, Sangari A, Schlesinger JJ. Improved Patient Monitoring with a Novel Multisensory Smartwatch Application. J Med Syst 2022; 46:83. [PMID: 36261739 PMCID: PMC9581767 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-022-01869-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Revised: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The design of medical alarms has been heavily criticized in the past decade. Auditory medical alarms have poor learnability, discernibility, and relevance, leading to poor patient outcomes, and alarm fatigue, and overall poor informatic system design. We developed a novel trimodal patient monitoring smartwatch application for patient monitoring. Participants completed two phases: (1) control and (2) our novel trimodal system while identifying alarms (heart rate, oxygenation, and blood pressure) and completing a cognitively demanding task. Alarms were auditory icons presented as either solo or co-alarms. Participant performance was assessed by accuracy and response time (RT) of alarm identification. Using the novel system, accuracy was significantly improved overall (p < 0.01) and in co-alarm situations (p < 0.01), but not for solo alarms (p = 0.484). RT was also significantly faster (p < 0.01) while using the novel system for all alarm types. Participants reported decreased mental workload using the novel system. This feasibility study shows that our novel alarm system performs better than current standards. Improvements in accuracy, RT and perceived mental workload indicate the potential of this system to have a positive impact on medical informatic systems and clinical monitoring, for both the patient and the clinician.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kendall J. Burdick
- T.H. Chan School of Medicine, University of Massachusetts, 55 Lake Ave, North Worcester, 01655 Worcester, MA USA
| | - Mohh Gupta
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, 37235 Nashville, TN USA
| | - Ayush Sangari
- Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, 100 Nicolls Rd, 11794 Stony Brook, NY USA
| | - Joseph J. Schlesinger
- Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1211 21st Avenue South, MAB 422, 37212 Nashville, TN USA
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