Sentara Princess Anne Hospital Reduces Alarm Interruptions By 54% In Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Sentara Princess Anne Hospital (SPAH) was built in 2011 in Southern Virginia Beach. The patient-centered hospital features a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with private and semi-private rooms. This new layout is a departure from the existing NICU design, which accommodated all patients in one large room. In that setting, nurses could see and hear all patient monitor and ventilator alarms at all times. The clinical leadership team knew this new NICU layout would help reduce the spread of infectious diseases and provide more privacy to patients and families. Yet, it would also impose barriers that would make it harder for nurses to hear and see active patient monitor and ventilator alarms. To ease interruption fatigue the team needed a better understanding of how to manage ancillary or secondary patient monitor alarms and ventilator notifications. They contacted the IT team, and together they worked with Vocera to implement an intelligent and effective next-generation solution.