On Sunday, March 23, all IV pumps in the hospital (with the exception of Tower 8 and the NICU) will be changed over to the new Alaris pump, representing another great stride in patient safety for BWH.
“The Alaris pump is expected to help us further reduce medication errors in that it has a safety feature built in at the point of drug administration,” said Peggie McCarthy-Mogan, RN, program manager for Nursing Professional Development, BWH Nursing Services.
As the nurse enters dosage information on the Alaris pump’s keypad, a drug library is at work in the background, checking minimum and maximum doses, which have been predetermined with the help of Pharmacy Services. For each drug, the Alaris pump can accept both “soft” and “hard” dosage limits that serve as guardrails for safe administration of that particular drug. In addition, the limits for a given drug can be set differently for different areas of the hospital—medical intensive care, neuro intensive care and so on. Anytime a dosage appears to be incorrect, an alert sounds prompting the nurse to review his or her dosage information.
“This is another giant step forward for BWH in the area of patient safety,” said McCarthy-Mogan. “It is extremely exciting.”
Alaris Training and Skills Lab Available
From March 3-16, Web-based computer training will be available, awarding two CEUs. Instructions will follow. Additionally, from March 8-16, a skills lab will be offered for staff to attend and be signed off on the practical use of the Alaris pump. These labs will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and resume at 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. Staff will have cue cards to follow and Alaris staff will proctor. It will take between ten and 45 minutes to go through the process, depending on the level of experience of the nurse. All staff are required to be signed off on the Alaris pump.