HTSI Honored for Its 'Pioneering Spirit'
Since 2010, the AAMI Foundation's Healthcare Technology Safety Institute (HTSI) has been working tirelessly to address patient safety problems related to infusion pumps and alarm fatigue. As a result of its work, HTSI has been recognized with a major award from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN).
On May 20, AAMI President Mary Logan and Leah Lough, executive director of the AAMI Foundation, accepted the 2013 GE Healthcare-AACN Pioneering Spirit Award at the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition in Boston.
The award recognizes significant contributions that influence acute and critical-care nursing. Award winners receive a plaque and $750 honorarium.
"The award check will be considered as the first contribution toward funding one of HTSI's most important research projects, which will test enhanced alarm settings to help develop a set of recommendations for enhanced alarm parameters for clinical monitors. We are working with Johns Hopkins on the study design, and the number one thing holding us back from getting started is funding. This award check will be an important symbolic start to the funding effort," said Logan.
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| Marjorie Funk, PhD |
Since its inception, HTSI has concentrated on two areas of patient safety: infusion systems and clinical alarms. Its work has helped shed light on the persistent safety issues in these areas.
In her nomination letter supporting HTSI for the award, Marjorie Funk, PhD, professor at the Yale School of Nursing, said the institute had been instrumental in fostering interaction among various healthcare groups to discover solutions for safer technology. She noted that pressing healthcare issues cannot be resolved by a single entity; therefore, HTSI's work is vital.
"The issues that HTSI is tackling reach
especially deeply into high acuity and
critical care practice. Presenting HTSI with the GE Healthcare-AACN Pioneering Spirit Award would be the perfect way to
recognize their pioneering spirit in technology safety," Funk, a
member of the HTSI Clinical Alarms Steering Committee and Alarm Best Practices Group, wrote.
In accepting the award, Logan thanked the HTSI volunteer community for all of its hard work. "This award really belongs to the HTSI community, especially the infusion and alarm steering committees," said Logan. "These are dedicated clinicians, industry experts, regulators, researchers, and others who are so committed to patient safety that they are willing to give their time to help make a difference."
Lough expressed optimism about the future of HTSI. "We are confident that the work we are doing now will make an extraordinary difference in patient safety and healthcare costs in the future," she added. "There is no doubt in any of us that HTSI is making a difference."
"I've always viewed AAMI as being more than just a standards organization—I view it as a place where stakeholders can meet and discuss common issues," said Pat Baird, engineering director at Baxter Healthcare. "Establishing HTSI work recognized by AACN shows the power of what a few thoughtful people can accomplish."
Established in 1969, AACN represents the interests of more than 500,000 nurses who care for acutely and critically ill patients. The association is dedicated to providing its members with the knowledge and resources necessary to provide optimal care to these patients and their families, according to its website.
For more information on HTSI's work, please go to www.aami.org/htsi/.
AAMI News: June 2013, Vol. 48, No. 6