Electronic fetal monitoring alerts.

May/June 2012 become an issue in medical-legal cases. There are no national standards for setting parameters for EFM alerts or the timeframe expected for acknowledgement. Often default settings are determined when the system is installed and may vary widely from one institution to another. In many cases, the default settings can be altered by the clinician based on the individual patient situation and be acknowledged from any computer on the unit. This area of clinical practice could benefi t from research that would potentially lead to standardization, minimizing risk of alert fatigue and ultimately promoting patient safety. ✜