A medical method and corresponding system for determining outlying patients in a data set of patient physiological alarms. Physiological alarms for patients are received and/or generated. An alarm rate limit for the patients, and/or alarm response limits for clinician response times, are determined based on a clinical alarm management policy. The received and/or generated physiological alarms are analyzed to determine at least one of: 1) patients exceeding the alarm rate limit and 2) clinicians exceeding the alarm response limits.