Data-Driven Implementation of Alarm Reduction Interventions in a Cardiovascular Surgical ICU.

Background: Alarm fatigue in the ICU setting has been well documented in the literature. The ICU's high-intensity environment requires staff's vigilant attention, and distraction from false and non-actionable alarms pulls staff away from important tasks, creates dissatisfaction, and is a potential patient safety risk if alarms are missed or ignored. This project was intended to improve patient safety by optimizing alarm systems in a cardiovascular surgical intensive care unit (CVSICU).

Impact of donor lung organisms on post-lung transplant pneumonia.

Background: Fear of transmission of donor organisms that may result in recipient pneumonia has a negative impact on donor lung utilization. We reviewed our experience with routine donor bronchial aspiration and culture at the time of transplantation to study the impact of donor bronchial organisms on the development of recipient post-lung transplant pneumonia (PTP) and other outcomes.

Methods: We reviewed 80 consecutive single and bilateral lung transplants (SLTs and BLTs) from August 1998 to August 2001.