Smart Pumps bar coding will be implemented at Children’s in Fall 2007

By Janet Logid RN, MA

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is implementing an enhanced safety function available on the Alaris Smart Pumps that are used throughout the system for administration of IV fluids and medications.

Why is Children’s implementing bar coding for IV medication administration?
Electronic scanning of bar-coded medications before administration minimizes wrong-patient medication errors as well as pump programming errors. Adding the bar coding function to the existing Guardrails safety system makes using Guardrails much more efficient. A significant percentage of IV infusion pump errors reported at Children’s involve either lack of use or incorrect use of Guardrails.

What medications are included in this implementation?
All IV medications that are currently in the Guardrails catalog and are dispensed with a pharmacy-generated Cerner label will be able to be programmed into the infusion pump through use of the bar code scanner. Infusions that cannot be programmed into the pump via bar code scanning at this time include TPN, Lipids, stock IV medications obtained from Pyxis, and blood products.

How has Children’s ensured input from sharp-end users in implementing medication bar coding?

Representatives from the Smart Pump superuser group have been closely involved in planning this process, along with staff from pharmacy, infection control, and patient safety teams.

How will nurses be trained?
On-unit training for bar coding will occur in September. A demonstration model will be available for all staff to practice with at the Smart Pump station at the Competency Fairs.

When will bar coding of IV medications be implemented?
Bar coding will start in St. Paul during the last week of September and in Minneapolis the first week in October. Watch Children’s Nurse Web for more details prior to implementation.

Janet Logid R, MA, is a nursing education specialist in the Center for Professional Development and Practice.