Hello,
On occasion when a patient's response to an infusion is not as expected, providers have requested potency testing (eg. alprostadil, bivalirudin). Potency testing is useful to rule out dispensing errors, but not other causes. We are hoping to develop a process to review potential infusion errors, including sequestering the device and medication/tubing, review pump data, review patient case, etc.

Does anyone have a process and/or policy to investigate potential errors with smart infusion pumps? Thank you!

Smart pump/DERS question regarding HUMATE-P (Antihemophilic Factor/von Willebrand Factor Complex).

1. Do you have HUMATE-P built into your drug library? If yes, how? Is it built as an IVPB or syringe?
2. What is your process for nursing administration of HUMATE-P and other factors?

We have occasional issues where a higher concentration of a continuous infusion (e.g. dobutamine 4mg/mL instead of our standard 1 mg/mL) is intentionally dispensed but the nurse who hangs the bag and programs the pump does not notice that the concentration is different than the prior bag. This results in over/under dosing.

ISMP would like to know if and how you are prioritizing high-alert IV infusion medications in the event of smart pump and/or tubing shortages. For example, have you considered which medication infusions can be given via IV push or another route? Or which can be hung by gravity? What medications have you prioritized for smart pump use?

For example on the ASHP, MSOS (https://medsafetyofficer.org), and SCCM listservs we have seen examples such as:

We recently implemented IV smart pumps with a provincial drug library. We have several patients on home TPN, for whom we've also ordered new pumps. I'm just wondering for any sites who use IV smart pumps with drug libraries, do you also provide a drug library for your home TPN patients, or do you have them continue to manually program their pumps volumetrically (mL/h)? We're thinking of creating a separate smaller library specific to the home TPN patients.

Question: How have hospitals worked around possible HIPAA violation issues when using the Patient ID function on smart pumps?

Background: We recently pursued a path to require RNs to enter the MR# in the Patient ID on our smart pumps (Alaris), but were stopped due to a concern over a possible HIPAA violation should a smart pump "go missing" (leave the hospital).

Other facilities who have interoperability (bidirectional communication between eMAR and the smart pump) would theoretically have the same issue.

Hello,

I'm interested in learning about other people's experiences as it relates to Alaris Pump Modules and their Estimated Useful Life.

We utilize Alaris Pump Module 8100 and I am trying to obtain information regarding when we should look to update/replace our existing hardware. We have been unable to obtain clear guidelines on this from our BD Carefusion reps.

For those who have had the experience in converting infusion pump vendors, have you developed a go-live risk assessment tool that you used and found beneficial? While assessments focused on drug library build would be helpful, I'm mostly looking for areas of risk to focus on related to conversion plan, day-of conversion and implementation.

At your organization, is entering new medications and updating the smart pump library done by a Clinical Pharmacy Manager/pharmacy manager, medication safety pharmacist or IT pharmacist? i.e. who really "owns" the library or is it shared responsibility?

Thanks!

Ivy

Our health system is looking at switching out our current smart pump technology. Prior to sending an RFP, we would like to hear how other institutions are satisfied with their own technology. Please respond to the following questions and thank you in advance for your help!
1. What size hospital are you in?
2. What kinds of pumps do you use and are any of them integrated with your electronic medical record?
3. Overall, do you feel the pumps are performing well in your environment?
4. Do nurses have any complaints with the pumps?