Healthcare facilities are heavily regulated environments. From electronic health records to how fire doors in a hospital need to be installed, many different organizations and government agencies regulate the healthcare industry.
Medical alarms are one aspect of healthcare that is heavily standardized. The IV pump will “ding” if a tube becomes kinked. And because of movies with melodramatic scenes in the hospital, most people are aware of the heartbeat in the background beeping over the actors’ voices.
What patients, healthcare providers and family members may not realize is all alarms are required to meet an international standard. The international standard for medical electrical equipment (IEC 60601-1-8) from the International Standards Organization (ISO) specifies performance and alarm categories and sound specifications. All manufacturers design and build to the standard for their individual devices. The standard was created to help make the alarms discernible from other sounds in the hospital, but the device manufacturer will not know which alarm is most important, so a healthcare professional needs to be able to hear all of the alarms.
