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John W. Mitchell, Senior Correspondent | May 29, 2017
From the May 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“Implementation of Alaris integrated solutions results in standardization and reduced variability for both nursing and pharmacy,” said Wilson.
Infusion data analysis
According to Eric Sato, vice president, infusion technologies at Baxter Healthcare, the company’s Sigma Spectrum offers new safety features.
“These features include Baxter’s infusion analytics application, a software solution that provides advanced infusion data analysis and graphical reporting to help identify potential pump programming errors,” he said.
These safety updates join existing Sigma Spectrum features, such as the Master Drug Library — or MDL — and Gateway. According to Sato, MDL allows pharmacists to create and customize a list of medications and fluids within medically appropriate dose ranges to guide safe programming, avoiding mistakes before they reach the patient.
“[The] Sigma Spectrum Infusion System helps clinicians make immediate use of a smart pump’s defining safety feature — the drug library — by automatically defaulting to the drug library at power-on, without requiring clinicians to ’opt in,’ “ says Sato. “Drug library updates can also be delivered wirelessly without interrupting clinical workflow.”
Health systems use the MDL and Infusion Analytics application to gain visibility to clinical workflow at the bedside and to understand drug library compliance metrics.
“These insights can be used to improve patient safety measures, eliminate unnecessary alarms and minimize preventable adverse drug events,” says Sato. “The Safety Management System also includes a suite of remote professional services that offer 24/7 service and technical support, along with regular cybersecurity monitoring and reporting.”
According to Sato, the single IV set technology featured in the platform can yield about 53 percent cost savings in IV tubing and a 30 percent reduction in IV tubing use. Although the system does not deliver alerts to mobile devices, it does offer integrated asset tracking to help optimize system use. The unit is also compact and lightweight for easier handling by nurses and patients.
