Used in hospital settings and cancer treatment centers, infusion pumps automate a key hospital technique and raise standards of care for patients with complex needs including chemotherapy, total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and pain management. These pumps reduce drug and fluid waste, lower infection risks, increase nursing efficiency and, as a result, improve patient outcomes.

A typical infusion pump uses a pneumatically driven silicone diaphragm to pull fluid from a bag, fill an internal chamber, and push it through tubing toward the patient as shown in Figure 2. The closed-loop control of this mechanism enables the pump to measure and monitor flow rate and occlusion without requiring the user to hang bags above the device. This helps reduce the likelihood of infusion-related occlusions and infections and frees nurses to transport the bags with their hands as they move patients between beds.

Medical Infusion IV Pump: Essential for Modern Healthcare

The infusion pump also detects which administration set is loaded to prevent use errors that can delay therapy. For example, piggyback administration of blood products and lipids can clog the infusion pump filter and occlude flow resulting in unintended or delayed therapy. By detecting this, the pump can prevent these types of administration sets from being programmed and can notify the user of an inappropriately loaded set.

Medical Infusion IV Pump has network capabilities and built-in software to help improve accuracy and safety, such as a Dose Error Reduction System or DERS. These systems allow the facility’s pharmaceutical experts to input the precise concentration, volume and rate of drug delivery into the infusion pump. The smart infusion pump can then automatically check the exact dose being delivered to the patient against these specifications. If the drug falls outside of these parameters, the infusion pump will provide various alerts to the user that there is a problem, such as a bolus error or occlusion alarm.