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NELLCOR FICTION:

"Nellcor's alarm management techniques are effective in reducing nuisance alarms in all patients without delaying clinical intervention."

FACTS:

  • The Nellcor N-600x uses a combination of extended averaging times (up to 50 seconds of "averaging" for pulse rate and 40 seconds of "averaging" for SpO2 during motion) and clinician-selectable alarm suppression (SatSeconds) to manage nuisance alarms.
  • With the introduction of SatSeconds on the N-395 (which worked better than the N-600x during motion to reject false alarms), Nellcor claimed an 89% reduction in "false alarms." By contrast, Masimo achieves more than a 93% reduction in false alarms without SatSeconds or extended averaging.
  • SatSeconds prevents Nellcor devices from audibly alarming for up to 100 seconds after an alarm threshold is breached. While this can reduce the nuisance of false alarms, it also means that clinicians may not be notified of real, actionable events.
  • While Nellcor markets SatSeconds for use on all patients, including neonates, in a letter to the US Senate rebutting a neonatologist's testimony at a Senate Hearing, Nellcor said that SatSeconds is not intended for neonates.
  • In the early 1990s, Nellcor openly criticized a competitive product (Criticare Systems) that froze values for up 40 seconds, and claimed it was responsible for a patient's death. However, in 1994 Nellcor introduced OxiSmart, which froze and delayed alarms for up to 60 seconds (in fact one study showed it could freeze even longer).

PROOF: