A Time to Act

Abstract

The name of this column is Frontlines, a particularly fitting title in the context of our cover story on infusion pump safety.Between 2005 and 2009, there were some 56,000 infusion pump incidents reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including hundreds of deaths or injuries to patients. During that same time period, there were dozens of pump recalls. It's not too far a stretch to think of such sobering statistics as a call to battle.Our story—“First, Do No Harm: Making Infusion Pumps Safer”—by Jody Lannen Brady sheds light on the frontlines of the effort to turn things around. To be sure, there have been improvements. But not enough.As Nat Sims, MD and co-chair of AAMI's Infusion Device Committee, puts it: “We are only at the beginning of what will be a lengthy process of focusing on infusion pumps and on patient safety when patients are receiving IV infusions.”October's summit on infusion device safety—hosted by AAMI and FDA—is part of that effort to usher in a new era of greater safety for this critical equipment.Infusion pumps are not the only concern for medical technology professionals. Medicine is going through some remarkable changes, including the rise of home healthcare. Manufacturers face a challenge in designing products that patients themselves—not just clinicians—will use. Cathy Cruise has details in Standards & Regulatory Watch.Robert Stiefel tackles another issue—how to manage non-hospital owned medical equipment. He offers concrete suggestions in Accreditation News & Views.We also have an interview with the president of the National Patient Safety Foundation. In View From the Top, Diane C. Pinakiewicz talks about how biomedical equipment technicians and clinical engineers have become a “cornerstone” in the effort to reduce medical errors.That observation isn't too surprising for AAMI members. But it's nice to hear that, increasingly, biomeds are seen as a crucial part of a healthcare system that never loses sight of its primary focus—helping patients heal.