Safe intravenous administration in pediatrics: A 5-year Pediatric Intensive Care Unit experience with smart pumps

Abstract Objectives To estimate the impact of smart pump implementation in a pediatric intensive care unit in terms of number and type of administration errors intercepted. Design Observational, prospective study carried out from January 2010 to March 2015 with syringe and great volumen infusion pumps available in the hospital. Setting A tertiary level hospital pediatric intensive care unit. Participants Infusions delivered with infusion pumps in all pediatric intensive care unit patients. Interventions Design of a drug library with safety limits for all intravenous drugs prescribed. Main variables Users’ compliance with drug library as well as number and type of errors prevented were analyzed. Results Two hundred and eighty-three errors were intercepted during 62 months of study. A high risk drug was involved in 58% of prevented errors, such as adrenergic agonists and antagonists, sedatives, analgesics, neuromuscular blockers, opioids, potassium and insulin. Users’ average compliance with the safety software was 84%. Conclusions Smart pumps implementation has proven effective in intercepting high risk drugs programming errors. These results might be exportable to other critical care units, involving pediatric or adult patients. Interdisciplinary colaboration is key to succeed in this process.