CareFusion Center for Safety and Clinical Excellence Hosts 11th Invited Conference
“Infusion Therapy and Information Technology – Taking IV Therapy to New Levels of Safety with IT Integration”
For more than 10 years, the use of “smart” intravenous (IV) infusion pumps with dose error reduction software has dramatically improved the safety of intravenous (IV) infusion therapy. Adding wireless connectivity has enhanced hospitals’ ability to manage important pump-related data. Over this same time period information technology (IT) has advanced with computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE), bar code medication administration (BCMA) and electronic medication administration records (eMAR). The next step is to integrate smart pumps and IT to achieve even more dramatic improvements in the safety and efficiency of IV therapy.
Despite significant progress over the past 10 years, however, with the exception of a few demonstration projects the real promise of integrating these two technologies has remained a vision. To help the health care community move from vision to reality, on June 2-3, 2011 the CareFusion Center for Safety and Clinical Excellence, along with Alaris Products, hosted the 11th Invitational Conference in San Diego: “Infusion Therapy and Information Technology – Taking IV Therapy to New Levels of Safety with IT Integration.”
The conference goals were to share experience and examples of cutting-edge IV-IT integration, identify significant regulatory/technology/cultural issues and establish integration priorities. Participation was limited to 40 key opinion leaders from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, IT, academia and industry, who came to San Diego to make and hear presentations, engage in a high-energy roundtable discussion, network with peers, strengthen existing relationships and establish new ones.
“CareFusion brought together some of the top thought leaders from around the country,” reported David W. Bates, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an internationally renowned expert in using IT. “It’s clear that we are tantalizingly close to doing this--it has even been accomplished in a few sites. What a meeting like this does is bring people together to talk about how to cross the chasm, and CareFusion is clearly playing a leading role in making this happen."
Tim Vanderveen, PharmD, MS, Vice President, Center for Safety and Clinical Excellence, said, “This was a unique forum that identified a cutting-edge topic: integrating IV with IT. It’s quite impressive that 40 sought-after thought leaders were willing to participate in a forum that is very educational both for us and for them. Everyone comes away with a lot of new ideas and new contacts. New ideas get put into action because we’re building relationships constantly.”
“CareFusion created an outstanding learning environment for thought leaders from around the country,” Mary K. Logan, JD, CAE, President, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), said. “When you offer a great learning environment and give thought leaders two days away from their challenging work environments, magic happens.”
Other organizations among the many represented at the conference included the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists® (ASHP), ECRI, the Infusion Nurses Society, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), Aurora Health Care, Lancaster General Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mayo Clinic, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Sharp Healthcare and WellSpan Health.
“Everyone agrees that to take patient safety to the next level, we have to integrate various technologies,” Vanderveen noted. “Our road map matches very well with the desires of our customers.”
Dan C. Pettus, Vice President of IT and Connectivity at CareFusion, said, “The conference affirmed the value of providing interoperability for infusion pumps, with experts from clinicians to IT saying this is a ‘must have.’ This validates that the time and energy we’re putting into this is well worth the effort.”
Carlos M. Nunez, MD, Chief Medical Officer at CareFusion, pointed out, "As hospitals and healthcare systems move rapidly into an era where actionable information drives the most fundamental decisions, the interoperability between medical devices and information systems will become increasingly important. This invited conference serves as another great example of how CareFusion and our talented and passionate professionals are helping to shape the future of healthcare.”
Preparation of the Conference Proceedings is currently underway.