Alarm-enhancement systems for ventilators: problems with physiologic monitoring interfaces.

In our January 2004 Guidance Article "Alarm-Enhancement Systems for Ventilators," we discussed several categories of ventilator alarm enhancements that communicate ventilator alarms to locations where they are more likely to be detected by caregivers. One of these options is interfacing ventilators with networked physiologic monitors. Presently, as part of an Evaluation we are conducting on physiologic monitoring systems, we are testing interfaces that allow ventilator alarm notification at a monitoring system's central station. While such interfaces can offer considerable advantages, our testing has also revealed some problems. These problems are not severe enough to rule out the monitoring-interface option, but they are significant, and hospitals need to be aware of them.