Infusion Insight:
Going with the Flow in Infusion Delivery Can be Harmful to Patient Care

How Well Do You Know Your Pump?

Kerin Klagges-Kingsbury, BSN, RN, Clinical Product Specialist

Did you know that “going with the flow” in IV pump technology may potentially lead to adverse patient outcomes?

It’s no secret.  Many clinicians are aware that issues with current pump technology, such as complex user interfaces, easily overridden DERs, difficult-to-control alarms, and failure to keep nurses informed about infusion progress not only disrupt nursing workflow but may put patients in harm’s way.

However, what many clinicians may not realize is that pump medication flow also often is unreliable.  Even when a pump is correctly set-up, drugs may not actually be delivered at the programmed rate and patients may be at risk—particularly those on high-alert drugs with short half-lives where precise administration is essential.

To meet standards, pumps must undergo extensive pre-market testing, and the results are clearly stated in pump manuals.  But clinicians may not be aware that reported flow accuracy is only an average measurement over a pre-determined time period—usually an hour—and is assessed under highly controlled laboratory conditions. In reality, pumps administer infusions in a wide range of clinical conditions. Most pumps have the potential to deliver fluids and medications at a highly variable rate, with intervals of over- and under-delivery—and at times possibly no delivery at all.

At Ivenix, we know that hospitals rarely function under highly controlled conditions.  And we believe clinicians and patients deserve better. To meet the needs of today’s healthcare environment, we examined current fluid delivery mechanisms and developed a new paradigm of adaptive fluid delivery that automatically compensates for external factors found in real-world clinical settings that affect flow – and that will help administer fluids and drugs smoothly and continuously, just as the clinician intended.

To learn more about infusion flow variability, read our published article in Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare “Infusion Pump Performance: Flow Accuracy & Continuity Often Don’t Add Up.”