The Quest to Reduce Infusion Errors

DailyNurse, April 24, 2018

Infusion errors continue to occur more frequently than they should. In fact, in 2017, the ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that strives to improve patient care through researching health care approaches, rated infusion errors as the number one hazard in health technology.

“Infusion pumps are ubiquitous in the hospital. Nine out of 10 patients admitted to the hospital receive an infusion. There are approximately 1.5 million adverse drugs events each year, of which 54% are related to infusion errors,” says Sue Niemeier, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Ivenix. In 2013, she continues, the FDA issued new guidance for infusion pump manufacturers to “improve the quality of infusion pumps in order to reduce the number of recalls and adverse events associated with their use.” The most commonly reported infusion pump device problems cited by the FDA are human factors, broken components, battery failure, alarm failure, and over/under infusion. And companies are stepping up to overcome these issues.

“At Ivenix, we have designed an infusion system that helps to put the nurses’ focus on their patients, with the guiding principles to simplify every step of the process, remove unnecessary and error-prone tasks, and inform care,” says Niemeier.  This system, which is awaiting FDA approval, has a pump with an integrated handle with quick release button, eight hours of battery, and bag hooks on the side to facilitate patient mobility. It features a touchscreen to eliminate buttons and possible points of confusion. “The interface was designed with the intent to be as simple and familiar as a smartphone to significantly enhance ease of use and help prevent potential misprogramming of the pump, a common source of user error that can potentially lead to patient harm,” Niemeier explains.

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