Why Are Clinical Alerts Important

My topic that I would like to address is clinical alerts. I believe when it comes to patient safety, clinical alerts are extremely important. Patient safety alerts are a critical part of our work to quickly alert the healthcare system to dangers and provide guidance on preventing potential incidents that may lead to harm or death. Clinical alarms warn nurses of immediate or potential adverse patient conditions. Alarms on clinical devices are intended to call the attention of caregivers to patient or device conditions that deviate from a predetermined "normal" status or notify when giving too much of a medication or even the wrong med. They are a vital tool in improving the safety of patients.
There are many clinical alerts to help nurses provide safe patient care. A couple of examples are the Mews score and medication administration error alerts. The purpose of alarm systems is related to "communicating information that requires a response or awareness, by the operator. These incidents are identified using a reporting system to spot developing patterns, so that appropriate measures can be made and given to protect patients from harm (Mitchell 2011).
As a nurse, I know medication errors have been a serious problem
Also, Nurses and physicians work long hours and being fatigued; it is easy to make mistakes. Advances in health information technology have improved patient safety, through the smarter design of clinical alerts. Healthcare in the United States is constantly evolving to provide safe and quality care while decreasing the incidence of medical errors. Hickcock (2011) agree while clinical decision support should not replace a provider's intuition, judgment or knowledge, it can complement the clinician's skills and improve the quality of care