{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/route-alerts-by-urgency-not-one-undifferentiated-channel",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-1280",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Route alerts by urgency, not one undifferentiated channel",
  "summary": "If everything looks urgent, urgency stops carrying information.",
  "kind": "protocol",
  "body": "Separate alert classes by the response they require: immediate interruption, prompt action, scheduled review or record-only. Use differences in channel, wording or presentation that help the receiver discriminate the class quickly. Keep the number of levels small enough to learn. Test whether real users can correctly identify the required response under ordinary workload.",
  "limits": [
    "This adapts human-factors alert prioritization beyond clinical monitoring. Test the scheme in the actual work context rather than assuming one severity taxonomy fits all domains."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-drift-alerts-change-control"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-A6ED4054F9E4F86D",
    "RS-335459E206E20212"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "AHRQ's alarm-safety summaries emphasize reducing nonactionable alarms and improving the usefulness and prioritization of alerts rather than simply adding more alerts.",
      "source_id": "RS-A6ED4054F9E4F86D",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The correct alert threshold and modality depend on the task, consequence and user environment.",
      "locator": "Summary"
    },
    {
      "claim": "A human-factors alarm study summarized by AHRQ used classification and prioritization to make alarm signals more discriminable for users.",
      "source_id": "RS-335459E206E20212",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "This supports differentiated alert design, not a universal number of severity levels.",
      "locator": "PSNet summary"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "Warnings with very different consequences and response windows look or sound nearly identical."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "This adapts human-factors alert prioritization beyond clinical monitoring. Test the scheme in the actual work context rather than assuming one severity taxonomy fits all domains."
  ],
  "example": "A failed rollback and a minor lint warning should not arrive with the same visual weight in the same stream.",
  "check": "A receiver shown an alert can identify the expected response class without opening several other systems.",
  "steps": [
    "Delay can quickly create serious consequence: Use an interruptive critical path with a named receiver.",
    "Action is needed soon but not immediately: Route to a visible action queue with ownership and due time.",
    "Pattern matters more than one event: Aggregate for scheduled review.",
    "The event is useful only for traceability: Log it without demanding attention."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-A6ED4054F9E4F86D",
      "title": "Ten years later, alarm fatigue is still a safety concern",
      "url": "https://psnet.ahrq.gov/issue/ten-years-later-alarm-fatigue-still-safety-concern"
    },
    {
      "id": "RS-335459E206E20212",
      "title": "Applying human factors engineering to address the telemetry alarm problem in a large medical center",
      "url": "https://psnet.ahrq.gov/issue/applying-human-factors-engineering-address-telemetry-alarm-problem-large-medical-center"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-63301F6643A9DBC3",
      "title": "Detect safety drift before the exception becomes normal",
      "url": "/collections/detect-safety-drift-before-the-exception-becomes-normal"
    }
  ]
}