Medical device alarm standards-the current position

There is no doubt standards have a vital role to play in ensuring that effective alarm solutions are implemented in the field of medical devices. The ISO/IEC joint working group described has a challenging task and its work is still at a very early stage, however there are many good ideas coming out of the meetings, with a lot of spontaneous discussion. It is the author's impression that a workable standard will evolve, but it is likely that it will be considerably different than ISO 9703 part 3 which is the current basis of discussion.