Smart Pumps

Smart Pumps

Smart pumps are used widely in healthcare.  At my current hospital we use the Alaris Pump which is a smart IV pump with a programed drug library.  This pump can deliver medications, blood, and fluids.  It can be used with adults and children. When starting the infusion either primary or secondary you click on the channel select button.  You can see this in the image below.  Once you select the channel you can then select the mediation/infusion that is ordered.  When you are giving a patient a medication you always do your visual checks along with scanning the medication.  After selecting the channel, you can then follow the prompts on the screen and select the correct medication.  The Alaris pumps have safety barriers set in place for all the medications.  If an unsafe rate is accidentally selected the pump will show a warning message and ask if you still want to proceed.  These smart pumps increase safety for our patients and reduce programing mistakes (Davis et al., 2018).  According to Chamberlain College of Nursing “Hospitals are full of high-technology diagnostic tools, monitoring devices, assistive devices, medication delivery systems, environmental cleaning devices, and various types of databases and information systems (2018).  These technologies help improve healthcare but it is important to know how to work and troubleshoot the devices/technology so you can be efficient and reduce safety errors. 

Davis, S., Blanchard, C., & Lewis, J. (2018). Implementing Smart Pumps to Enhance Patient Safety. Hospital Pharmacy, 54(4), 217–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018578718809252

IV Tubing, Alaris Pump Infusion Set, 2 SmartSite Y-Sites, – Penn Care, Inc. (n.d.). Www.penncare.net. Retrieved March 27, 2024, from https://www.penncare.net/product/iv-tubing-alaris-pump-infusion-set-2-smartsite-y-sites/Links to an external site.