Infusion pumps can be found in nearly every hospital and medical facility in the country. Many advancements have been made since the debut of these IV pumps, but the development of smart pumps is perhaps one of the most dramatic developments of the modern era. In 2013, 72.9% of U.S. hospitals reported using smart pumps, a significant increase from six years ago, when only 44% of these facilities used smart technology developed by IV pump manufacturers. Improved patient safety and easy integration with existing systems largely explain this increase in widespread use.

The fact that many smart IV pumps are able to build drug depots within the infusion system itself provides convenience and control. This feature is designed to reduce programming and medication errors that can lead to adverse reactions. Each facility must develop and maintain its own drug library to ensure clinicians are alerted to safety risks during infusions. This comprehensive drug library is an important part of the smart pump system. But how exactly do facilities build these drug banks? In today's post, we will briefly outline the steps required to build a smart infusion drug library. For full details on this process, please refer to the guidelines developed by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP).

1. Build your team:Building a drug library must be a team effort. You will need representatives from the team in the fields of pharmacy, nursing and information technology. You will need to appoint a pharmacy leader, nursing educator and manager/representative, prescriber and IT representative to ensure a solid understanding of these key areas; they all play a role in developing the comprehensive library.

2. Formalize your process:In this step, you need to establish guidelines and processes for getting your drug bank approved. You will also need to develop a process for drug library revisions, including changes or additions to drugs and details of those drugs. By establishing these processes, you will ensure consistency, security and history of all edits and additions.

3. Define your scope:You can now define all the medications that can be delivered by the smart IV pumps used in your facility. It is important to evaluate the form, properties, dosage information, requirements for flow rate and accuracy of these drugs. In addition to the route of administration, their drug compatibility, and the environment in which these drugs are administered, should all be addressed. These drugs must also be evaluated based on how they are currently used, whether these methods are safe and effective, and how any changes to the process may affect patients.

4. Collection of your information:You need to gather a lot of official information to build your drug bank and ensure that these practices comply with all regulations. ISMP recommends that facilities collect lists of medications used in a variety of applications, including the following: your hospital's infusion manuals, formularies, procedures, and policies; medication library data from pharmacy management software, medication error reports, medication-related trends, and data, prescribing information from manufacturers; formularies from U.S. and international agencies, guidelines from national organizations, and more. You will review and use this information to develop standards for each drug in your library.

5. Set up your system:After gathering all the necessary information, you will be able to set up a drug library system from leading smart IV pump manufacturers. You typically need to perform these actions in a specific order (ie, create a master medication list, develop a clinical care area profile, customize settings). You will need to add the drug name, consider the type of infusion used, and determine the drug concentration and dosage unit, etc. Then, you need to create profiles for the nursing area, as drug groupings are often associated with specific profiles. Finally, you'll determine pump settings such as wireless options, keylock and location services.

This configuration will be reviewed, documented, tested, and modified if necessary after the drug library is set up for the smart IV pump used. To learn more about how our smart IV pumps can improve patient safety, contact us today.