Connecting EMRs and Smart Pumps Proving Difficult
As they settle into their implementation, hospitals are hoping to connect key medical devices to their EMRs. But vanishingly few have pulled off connecting one important device, the smart infusion pump, according to recent research by KLAS.
KLAS’s new study surveyed 251 providers from 218 organizations. Researchers concluded that less than 10 providers in the country are tying smart pumps to their EMRs, despite the fact that most providers see such connections as an important safety measure. The smart pumps let clinicians know if the pumps aren’t set to match a facility’s guidelines, while standard pumps are programmed by hand.
More than half of providers told KLAS that EMR integration is a key factor in selecting future pumps, the firm says. And they handed out higher satisfaction ratings to vendors whose technology development is moving along. Smart pump vendors Baxter, Carefusion and Hospira, for example, led in wireless technology.
That hospitals are demanding wireless pumps that connect with EMRs is no big surprise. Far too many — 23 percent — of surveyed provider organizations reported serious medication incidents within the previous 24 months. Sixty percent of the serious errors were made while using drug libraries. Clearly, using the libraries is good, but connecting to an EMR with auto-programming could make a difference.
Given the difference EMR-connected pumps could make, why are so few providers already connected? Well, one obvious issue is that only 60 percent of providers are live on wireless pump technology, which is necessary to get the integration done.
It’s not just the pump that’s an issue, however. When hospitals roll out this approach, it requires a great deal of coordination between IT, EMR users, clinical analysts and more, notes Kristen O’Shea, clinical transformation officer for WellSpan Health, who spoke with InformationWeek magazine about her organization’s smart-pump rollout.
To make sure the team worked together smoothly with the new device connections, WellSpan created a new hybrid biomedical/IT position to manage medical device connectivity. (Smart move — maybe more would be getting done in the EMR/device connection realm if they did more hiring of this kind?)
[...] networks. For example, medical devices are increasingly going wireless (see our recent story on wireless smart infusion pumps) and becoming edge devices feeding into the [...]
[...] While all of this is great, we’re not likely to see a grand switchover in the near term. Right now, integration stats are very low; for example, according to a recent KLAS hospital study, less than 10 percent of respondents had adopted connected smart infusion pumps. [...]
[...] While all of this is great, we’re not likely to see a grand switchover in the near term. Right now, integration stats are very low; for example, according to a recent KLAS hospital study, less than 10 percent of respondents had adopted connected smart infusion pumps. [...]
[...] more than half of 251 providers surveyed said that EMR connectivity will be a factor when they next invest in infusion pumps. But at present vanishingly few hospitals are actually implementing new smart pumps with wireless [...]
I know someone who spends 2 days a month getting infusions. The pumps are so bad and so mis-used that it tempts one to not use them. They constantly stop. Alarms seem nearly non-stop. But the biggest problem by far is that every single person operating them comes up with their own idea of the settings. One goes fast, one slow. No one reads the instructions (carefully at least) and programs the pump appropriately and then adjusts it as needed as per conditions (also in the notes).
With a pump connected to an EHR, the pump could receive its instructions from the doctor. Any exceptions could be recorded to the EHR. And when a problem comes up with the pump in a hospital room, the nursing station could be notified (and the problem recorded) instead of loud alarms only heard by patients who then can’t get any sleep.
To me, this represents a huge potential improvement in patient care and comfort.