Thoratec HeartMate III, Instructions For Use Manual, Page: 331 / 458

Alarms and Troubleshooting 7
HeartMate III Left Ventricular Assist System Instructions for Use 7-3
System Controller Alarms
Patient-Resolvable Versus Clinician-Resolvable Alarms
Note: Patients can resolve and troubleshoot many System Controller alarms on their own,
without clinician intervention. Primarily, patient-resolvable alarms involve maintaining
connections to the Driveline and external power sources. There are, however, many situations
where clinician help is needed. In these situations, a “Call Hospital Contact” message appears
on the information display screen. Depending on the hospital center, the clinician may ask the
patient to replace his or her System Controller. In other cases, the clinician may arrange for the
patient to be admitted for additional diagnostics and resolution by clinicians.
Handling System Controller Alarms
Common System Controller alarms are described on the following pages. Each section
addresses the likely cause and typical steps for resolving most System Controller alarms. Alarms
are presented in order of priority. Hazard alarms appear first, followed by Advisories. Refer to
Table 7.2 through Table 7.3 on the following pages for a complete list of prioritized
System Controller alarms.
IMPORTANT! System Controller alarms cannot be silenced when the System Controller is in
power saver mode. For more information about power saver mode, refer to Low Speed Limit on
page 4-20.
Alarm Screen Overview
When an alarm occurs, messages appear on the System Controller’s user interface screen to
help resolve the problem. These screen messages indicate the alarm type and shows a timer. The
timer on the screen counts up in seconds, indicating how long the alarm has been occurring.
Figure 7.1
shows the alarm screen layout.
Figure 7.1 Alarm Screen
1
Alarm Message
2
Duration Timer
1
2