"Smart" Pumps: Provide safety while promoting teamwork
Schreiber, Pamela L., RN, CMSRN, MS. (October 2007). Nursing Management 38:10, 46-49.
http://journals.lww.com/nursingmanagement/Citation/2007/10000/_...
Abstract
Current literature is strongly focused on newly highlighted efforts to reduce medical errors. This, in combination with ever-burgeoning technological innovations, has seen the implementation of the “smart” pump. These infusion pumps contain software that, when programmed with institution-specific drugs and dosing parameters, provide a safety net for drug dosing. These parameters alert the nurse when a drug is programmed outside of the parameter, and either allows the nurse to override this action or be prevented from proceeding with the administration.
Stanford Hospital and Clinics, a tertiary teaching hospital in Stanford, Calif., determined it was time to upgrade the current infusion pumps with a medication safety system that used this new technology.