Welch Allyn Acuity Directions For Use Manual page 9

Directions for use
Related to monitoring interruption
WARNING Do not use the Arrhythmia Analysis or ST Analysis feature on
neonates. The Arrhythmia Analysis and ST Analysis options are not intended for
use with neonatal patients.
WARNING Keep all pacemaker patients under close observation. Rate meters
might continue to count the pacemaker rate during occurrences of cardiac arrest
or some arrhythmias. Do not rely solely upon rate meter alarms.
WARNING Central station alarms and other events can go unnoticed if clinical
personnel are not present at the central station or if interruptions occur in power
or system operations.
WARNING The leading cause of patient death or serious injury reported with the
use of patient monitoring equipment is failure to respond to alarms notifying the
user of an adverse change in patient condition. If you are relying on visual alarm
notifications, maintain a clear line of sight and remain within 4 meters of the
central station. If you are relying on audio alarm notifications, make sure that you
can hear audio alarms from where you are. Set the volume as needed considering
the environment and ambient noise levels. Verify that the alarm is audible to a
clinician working at the maximum distance from the central station.
WARNING If you view an Acuity System display remotely and its primary Acuity
System fails, you lose all access to the remote display. Monitoring a patient at an
Auto-Open Secondary (AOS) or Patient List Review (PLR) remote station is not a
substitute for monitoring a patient at the primary Acuity Central Station.
WARNING Use wireless monitors only on patients who can tolerate
intermittent monitoring interruptions. All wireless systems are prone to
intermittent signal dropout. During signal dropout periods, arrhythmia and ST-
segment analyses cannot be performed, and the Acuity System does not show
alarms or alerts.
WARNING If an Acuity Central Station display is intentionally or inadvertently
muted, alarm and alert tones do not occur at the display. If your central station
display includes audible tones, remain aware of whether they are occurring. If
they appear to have stopped, ensure that tones are restored.
WARNING If normal central processing unit (CPU) operation is interrupted, for
example, during CPU maintenance, scheduled and unscheduled reboots, power
loss or a high-availability (HA) CPU switchover period, central station monitoring
and analysis temporarily stop.
The Acuity System cannot collect patient review data during the interruption
period. That data becomes permanently unavailable.
Auto-reboots and HA CPU switchovers occur infrequently, but poor
environmental conditions and failure to perform preventative maintenance can
increase frequency of occurrence.
Chapter 1 General information 5