The Alarm Management System

For the Nellcor™ N-600x Pulse Oximeter with OxiMax™ Technology

When clinicians respond to a desaturation alarm…

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If the alarm sounds a number of times, your staff will probably check the sensor site or the SpO2 threshold to see what’s triggering the alarm. They may not find anything out of the ordinary.

But they may not be getting the whole story.

A study from 2008 showed that respiratory depression is the number-one reason for code emergencies in hospitals today.1 The focus of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation safety initiative in 2006 was on ensuring the safety of patients while under anesthesia.2 Case studies and news articles abound on oxygenation issues among postoperative patients, while workshops and forums address recognizing respiratory depression in time to mitigate patient risks.

One way? Taking note of repetitive reductions in airflow. And there are identifiable patterns of desaturation that can warn clinicians about those repetitive reductions.

If there were a simple way to detect those patterns, wouldn’t you want to know?

You could reduce nuisance alarms and know more—at a glance—about your patient’s oxygen saturation than an SpO2 number or even a threshold violation alert might indicate.

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…they might see these numbers.

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AMS: FOur key FeATureS

SatSeconds alarm management—Reduces nuisance alarms

SPD alert—Detects desaturation patterns indicative of repetitive reductions in airflow

Trend View—Offers historical information with highlighted alerts

General Care Format View—Enables evalua-tion of patient condition at a glance

The Alarm Management System from Covidien The Alarm Management System (AMS) for the Nellcor™ N-600x pulse oximeter with OxiMax™ technology alerts staff to potentially harmful patterns of desaturation and enables them to differentiate between serious desaturations and minor transient events. An upgrade for the Nellcor N-600x pulse oximeter, AMS uses the monitor and sensors you already know and trust.

SatSeconds Alarm ManagementSatSeconds alarm management pro-vides a smart way to manage alarms. Clinicians control this feature, allowing them to differentiate between clinically significant desaturations and minor tran-sient events. Using a circle icon that “fills up,” the SatSeconds feature is based on a combination of the magnitude and the time by which a patient goes outside SpO2 thresholds.

SatSeconds effect

Simply put, you get alarms that matter. You’re able to put brief desatura-tion events into context by their depth and shallow desaturations into con-text by their duration. So, rather than having an alarm sound every time a patient crosses the threshold, an alarm sounds when a desaturation event is clinically significant, according to the set-ting you’ve chosen. And, regardless of the SatSeconds alarm setting, if three or more SpO2 violations occur within a 60-second period, an alarm will sound.

SPD Alert*The SPD or “saturation pattern detection” alert detects patterns of desaturation indicative of repetitive reductions in air-flow, which may be seen in patients with deteriorating airway stability. The SPD alert uses a triangle icon that when “full” triggers an alarm to alert staff about these worrisome patterns.

SPD effect

With the SPD alert, staff get information to balance pain

medication and airway safety because they investigate situations they may not have otherwise known about. The SPD alert can show a caregiver that though the SpO2 snapshot is acceptable, the patient has developed worrisome patterns of desaturation—even if no single desatura-tion event crossed the SpO2 threshold.

*SPD alert is intended for adult in-hospital use only. Do not use SPD alert with pediatric or neonatal patients.

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WiTh AMS, yOu AND yOur STAFF CAN:

identify worrisome patterns, even if patients aren’t crossing the SpO2 threshold

Differentiate between seri-ous desaturations and minor transient events, responding to alarms that matter

Get more than a number, seeing more of your patient’s oxygenation than a snapshot in time

easily communicate with other staff, pinpointing signifi-cant events

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The Covidien Alarm Management System for the Nellcor™ N-600x pulse oximeter with OxiMax™ technology helps you and your staff manage the balance between pain management and patient safety.

Trend View

The Trend View lets clinicians quickly review historical, detailed data so that they can identify when the alarm went off and which alert caused it. The sig-nificant desaturation events marked by SatSeconds alarm management and the concerning patterns tracked by the SPD alert remain highlighted—even if the heart rate and SpO2 numbers “look good” at that moment.

VIEW ZOOM NEXT BACK

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General Care Format (GCF) View

The GCF View puts all the features together in one display. It features the SPD alert and SatSeconds alarm management icons, as well as a trend alert, all of which allow clinicians to evaluate the patient’s condition at a glance.

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LIMITS TREND SETUP LIGHT

you live and breathe patient safety. So do we.

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TreND VieW

When the “Trend” indicator is lit, press a button to review historical, detailed data to identify when an alarm went off and which alert caused it. Concern-ing patterns and significant desaturation events are highlighted—even if the pulse rate and SpO2 numbers “look good” at the moment.

SPD AlerT*

When you hear the SPD alert, it’s noting worrisome patterns of desaturation. The unique, proprietary SPD algorithm continuously reviews SpO2 patterns, and quantifies those patterns based on a number of vari-ables, including shape, severity, frequency and duration.

*The SPD alert is intended for adult in-hospital use only. Do not use SPD alert with pediatric or neonatal patients.

SATSeCONDS AlArM MANAGeMeNT

When you hear a SatSeconds alarm, you know your patient could be suffering from a clinically significant desaturation. The SatSeconds feature is indicated by the circle and calculates:

[SATURATION POINTS] × [SECONDS]

For example, at a SatSeconds setting of 50, an alarm goes off if the patient is:

• 5 points below the threshold × 10 seconds • 10 points below the threshold × 5 seconds

If the patient has had three or more SpO2 threshold violations within a 60-second period, the alarm will sound—whether or not the patient has exceeded the SatSeconds setting.

GeNerAl CAre FOrMAT VieW

The GCF View, in addition to your current views, puts all the features together in one display that is easy to read from a distance. It features the SatSeconds and SPD alert icons, as well as a Trend alert, all of which allow clinicians to identify the patient’s condition at a glance.

Get more than a number

You and your staff work hard to strike a balance between pain management and patient safety. That’s why we’ve worked with healthcare professionals to develop reliable indicators of reductions in oxygenation that help you get the whole story, so you can intervene as early to prevent adverse respiratory events.

References1. Fecho K, Joyner L, Pfeiffer DL. Opioids and code blue emergencies. In: Program and abstracts of the

annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Orlando, FL: Anesthesiology; 2008;109. Abstract A34.

2. Stoelting RK. Safety during patient-controlled anesthesia. Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) Meeting. Chicago, IL: October 13, 2006.

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