False Crisis Alarms in Cardiopulmonary Monitoring:: Identification, Causes, and Clinical Implications

The systematic annotation of crisis alarms reveals a high number of false alarms for both ventricular tachycardia and asystole, which are best identified by inspecting simultaneous multilead electrocardiographs. Among the few true crisis alarms, 11 were categorized as ventricular tachycardia, while the remaining 11 were classified as asystole. These false crisis alarms were primarily attributed to artifacts and low QRS voltage. Future research should use artificial intelligence that mimics critical care professionals to identify and evaluate false crisis alarms. This could enhance the algorithms used in physiologic monitors, leading to improved arrhythmia detection and a reduction in false alarms.