Comparison of the identification and ease of use of two alarm sound sets by critical and acute care nurses with little or no music training: a laboratory study

The melodic alarm sound set for medical electrical equipment that was recommended in the International Electrotechnical Commission's IEC 60601-1-8 standard has proven difficult for clinicians to learn and remember, especially clinicians with little prior formal music training. An alarm sound set proposed by Patterson and Edworthy in 1986 might improve performance for such participants. In this study, 31 critical and acute care nurses with less than oneyear of formal music training identified alarm sounds while they calculated drug dosages. Sixteen nurses used the IEC and 15 used the Patterson-Edworthy alarm sound set. The mean (SD) percentage of alarms correctly identified by nurses was 51.3 (25.6)% for the IEC alarm set and 72.1 (18.8)% for the Patterson-Edworthy alarms (p=0.016). Nurses using the Patterson-Edworthy alarm sound set reported that it was easier to distinguish between alarm sounds than did nurses using the IEC alarm sound set (p=0.015). Principles used to construct the Patterson-Edworthy alarm sounds should be adopted for future alarm sound sets.