Case Study: Sentara Healthcare achieves a 54% reduction in NICU alarm interruptions with Stryker's Vocera alarm-management solution

Sentara Princess Anne Hospital Reducing alarm interruptions by 54% in neonatal intensive care

Sentara Princess Anne Hospital (SPAH) needed to address escalating interruption fatigue in its neonatal intensive care unit after a 2011 redesign shifted to private and semi‑private rooms. The new layout made it harder for nurses to hear and see bedside monitor and ventilator alarms, causing phones to ring with nuisance secondary alerts while clinicians were at the bedside, disrupting care and overstimulating fragile infants.

SPAH integrated its real‑time location system with Vocera Engage’s FDA‑cleared alarm middleware to deliver rules‑based secondary notifications only when nurses were outside a monitor’s audible/visual range. Within 30 days this reduced NICU secondary alerts by 54%, produced no adverse events, and drove major staff gains—62% higher nurse satisfaction with alarm management, a 27% drop in ancillary notifications, and a 63% reduction in reported alarm fatigue—while creating a quieter, more healing environment for neonates.

Sentara Healthcare

Monique Lowery

Clinical Manager