Welch Allyn Acuity Directions For Use Manual page 162

158 Chapter 10 Troubleshooting and maintenance
Table 14. Troubleshooting patient alarm indications
Problem
Audible alarm or alert tones are delayed
at the patient monitor.
However, visual indications at the patient
monitor and Acuity Central Station occur
at the same time.
After an audible alarm tone is suspended
and another vital sign alarm occurs for the
same patient, a new tone does not occur
until the original 90 seconds has lapsed.
Patient status icon does not change to
when a patient alarm is
suspended.
When I click the bar in a Waveform
Window to remove a latched alarm, the
alarm remains.
SpO false alarms are occurring.
2
Welch Allyn Acuity Central Monitoring System
Explanation
To minimize disturbance to patients, a 10-second delay occurs before an
alarm or alert tone sounds at most patient monitors connected to the Acuity
System network.
WARNING Audio tones at a patient monitor in pediatric or adult
mode might be suppressed by the Acuity System for up to four
minutes and 15 seconds, depending on choices made during
Acuity System installation. For further information, see the
monitor directions for use. Visual indications at the patient
monitor are not suppressed.
WARNING During an alarm or alert suspension period, be aware
of new visual alarm indications that might occur on the patient
monitor or Virtual Monitor. During a suspension period, these
things occur at the Virtual Monitor and patient monitor:
•Audible tones are suspended for 90 seconds unless RESUME is
clicked at the central station or the alarm tone is reset at the
patient monitor.
•Alarms for lethal events—apnea, asystole, ventricular
tachycardia, and ventricular fibrillation—override the suspend
state.
•All other new alarms for the same patient are indicated only
visually, by additional red numeric highlights and arrhythmia or ST
status messages.
•New equipment alerts are indicated only after the first alarm
and alert conditions are corrected.
Additionally, these indications occur:
•On hallway message panels and in the message window at the
top of the Acuity System screen, if a new alarm is higher priority
than one already shown on the panels, it replaces the first alarm.
•At the patient monitor, a short "blip" tone can occur if a new
arrhythmia alarm is a higher level than a suspended alarm.
WARNING Always identify the source of an alarm before you
suspend it. When an NIBP alarm is suspended or silenced, the
window borders and icon colors at the central station are the pre-
alarm color instead of the typical red "Alarm Suspended" status.
The patient alarm might have been an NIBP alarm. When an NIBP alarm is
suspended, changes color to reflect the patient status before the
alarm.
If you attempt to remove a latch for an alarm condition that is still active,
the visual latch remains.
Poor sensor placement, a patient's poor circulation, frequent arrhythmias,
or excessive patient movement can increase the frequency of false alarms.
If the problem persists after you have corrected sensor placement, try
changing the SpO RESPONSE time to SLOW and C-LOCK
2
®
to OFF.