Making smart pumps smarter, making IV therapy safer

Abstract

Errors of IV drug administration outweigh errors related to prescribing and have remained stubbornly fixed at an unacceptable level, with one study giving a rate of 74.5 errors per 100 patient days. A major challenge, therefore, in smart pump development has been ‘closing the loop’—confirming correct administration and guiding clinicians at the point of administration. CareFusion smart pumps set ‘rules’ for every infusion through the application of a drug library. The effectiveness of this library can be monitored through a reporting system, which allows teams to make informed changes to therapies and limits. Creating the drug library is a multidisciplinary undertaking which often involves conflict and a rolling back of assumptions about current practices. Integrating smart pumps with electronic health records, and using auto-population to ‘close the loop’ for IV drug administration, release the potential of smart pumps to protect patients against drug administration error.