Medication pumps are an essential part of nursing in current times. Before the use of medication pumps, the nurse had to rely on manual calculation and methodical timing to give infusions of medications to patients. Infusion pumps can be used to administer medication and food supplements to patients for a set duration of time. An advantage is that they can be programmed to give precise measurements at an exact time which can be especially important for time-sensitive medications. They can also be programmed to give nutritional supplementation to patients that require around-the-clock feedings. A risk associated with infusion pumps is that they can require multiple steps to deliver complex medications. When compared to other routes of medications, the use of infusions is twice as likely to be involved with medication errors (Bacon & Hoffman, 2020). Another advantage of some pumps is the ability to program multiple medications all at one time under the direction of them to be delivered at various intervals. This would be especially beneficial in a critical care unit where nurses are often giving many life-saving medications simultaneously under physician advisement. However, this practice can come with increased risk to the patient. According to Wolf and Hughes (2019), the biggest way to prevent risk to the patient with infusion pumps is routine nurse education, improving pumping devices, and standardizing the process of infusion administration. Infusion pumps care becoming smarter with advancement in technological advancement. Nevertheless, best practice requires the nurse to check the order, check the pump, the patient, and the pump again to ensure the proper outcome is obtained. Infusion pumps can improve nurse efficiency with medication delivery, but it is only as good as the information provided.
(Plum 360 Smart Infusion System, n.d).
References
Bacon, O., & Hoffman, L. (2020). System-level patient safety
practices that aim to reduce medication errors associated with infusion pumps:
An evidence review. Journal of Patient Safety, S42–S47.
https://doi.org/10.1097/pts.0000000000000722
Nurse It. (2020, March 13). Alaris pump programming
how to nurse it. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/15if1EpD7aU
Plum 360 Smart Infusion System (n.d). [Infographic]. ICU Medical. https://www.icumed.com/products/infusion-therapy/iv-systems/large-volume-iv-pumps
Vanderdeen, T., (2014, May 27). From smart pumps to intelligent infusion systems – The promise of interoperability. [Infographic]. Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare. https://www.psqh.com/analysis/from-smart-pumps-to-intelligent-infusion-systems-the-promise-of-interoperability/
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