This month the ECRI Institute of Plymouth Meeting, PA www.ecri.org named infusion errors the number one on top 10 technology hazards. “ Although today’s pumps incorporate features that reduce the risks of infusion errors, these safety mechanisms cannot eliminate all potential errors, and the mechanisms themselves have been known to fail”, the company said. “ECRI Institute continues to receive reports and investigate incidents of uncontrolled flow of medication to the patient – a potentially fatal circumstance known as ‘IV free flow’ and other infusion errors.
Over the past twenty years the design of infusion pumps has changed little. The basic fluid and pump mechanism relies on gravity to deliver medication.
The “smart pump” came into being over ten years ago when manufacturers started to incorporate wireless technology (WLAN) into infusion pumps. The purpose was to provide network communication to a server that could download drug libraries to the infusion pump. This was aimed at the reduction of errors at the point of care to provide high and low limits for each specific drug used. There also was the ability to store log files and upload those for improvements in clinical use. Still, to ensure accuracy of medication delivery, all infusion pumps had to be annually calibrated.
However, we still have twenty-year old pump technology that literally just got updated with Wi-Fi and software. How could technology be improved to prevent “IV free flow”?
First you need to take out a clean sheet of paper and design a new infusion pump that solves the real issues at hand, not just bolt on a Wi-Fi radio module and software and call this a smart pump!
For example, it would be ideal if infusion therapy could be delivered accurately and reliably regardless of bedside plumbing and also the height of the source of medication delivery on the I.V. pole.
A new company called Ivenix www.ivenix.com is accomplishing this. Instead of relying upon gravity it uses an adaptive design. This design (still pending FDA 510(k) approval) measures flow and automatically adjusts to maintain flow within a very small percentage of the set flow rate under all conditions. How does this new design lower risk?
1. Infusion therapy can now being able to be delivered accurately and reliably regardless of bedside plumbing and the height of the hanging bag of infused medication.
2. Eliminate the need for the calibration of infusion pumps.
3. Reduce air-in-line alarms because air is eliminated from the system.
4. An intuitive smart phone touch interface is provided to the user reducing time and potential errors.
