Physician awareness of patient cardiac telemetry monitoring

Abstract

Overuse of cardiac telemetry monitoring in the inpatient setting is widespread, contributes to alarm fatigue, and is costly for health systems. We sought to quantify the rates of provider unawareness of ongoing telemetry use and to quantify the rate of appropriate monitoring compared to American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines using a survey design. Inpatient medical providers were questioned about the presence of telemetry for each of their patients. In the 870 inquiries, 47% of patients were receiving telemetry. Providers’ awareness of whether their patient was receiving telemetry was inaccurate in 26% of assessments. A guideline-appropriate indication for telemetry use was provided in only 58% of assessments. Providers are often unaware of ongoing cardiac telemetry use in their patients, and may continue use despite the lack of a guideline-appropriate indication.