B.Bruan Space pumps

mama_d, BSN, RN · Mar 15, 2011

I can't stand them. We went to them from using Colleague Guardians. The only advantage is that they are more lightweight and you can stack them or use the space station.

They hallucinate bubbles in the tubing, don't show the last cleared numbers, when they fail (usually for no apparent reason) all info regarding what was infusing is lost. Plus the tubing is awful for infusing anything in a glass vial, even with the vent open. Oh, and there are only two ports on the tubing...one above the pump for piggybacks and one near the IV access.

We switched brands over a year ago and people are still complaining about how much better the Colleagues were.

canchaser, BSN, RN · Mar 15, 2011

Yes yes everything the previous poster said. On our old pumps u could hear the bolus going in, there was a safety feeling in hearing it run in. On these pumps, you do not hear it running. Also if u r in a hurry or impatient and push the start button to quickly the pump will likely not start u walk away and the pump

Beeps to start it. These pumps stink, I want my collegue guardian back. the imaginary air bubbles these machines find are horrendous. Just last night we had a pump that kept beeping air. We changed the tubing twice, had 4 different nurses look at it and still never found the air bubble it kept seeing. Frustrating to say the least.

skylark, BSN, RN · Mar 15, 2011

We've had them about three years and are very happy with them. The one thing though is that they do need careful priming, and I always opt to do it myself rather than have the pump do it. My theory is that it doesnt fill the line properly becuase the part that goes in the pump is wider than the rest of the line and air is more likely to collect there. I prime it slowly, and then turn the line upside down, so that the patient end is higher and tap any air to there and the flush it out. It might take a few seconds longer but I've never had the pump alarm when I've done that.

They have a good battery life and are very easy to transport. I have no complaints!

qcumba · Mar 16, 2011

Thank guy's for all your input,sounds likethe manufacturing of air out of nowhere is a common problem with these pumps then, at present we are using the Baxter pumps,the colleague I think, and they are soooo heavy and you can only run 3 infusions through each one, and being in ICU the patient's bed space starts to look very cluttered when you have many infusions running at once, so it looked like the Space pumps would help with that. we will see how the trial goes, it's only fr 2 weeks,which isn't long enough in my opinion

Thanks again

mama_d, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2011

I forgot to add that the Colleagues, when there was an issue, would continuously beep. The Space pumps go "do-do-doot...long pause....do-do-doot" which means that you have nurses roaming the halls, pausing outside of doors, listening to see which pump is going off. It gets downright ridiculous.

The metal clamps also tend to have a plastic piece break off, which renders them useless.

And the cords that come off so easily seemed like a great idea...until all of our cords and daisy chains managed to walk off the unit. At one point recently we were sharing one cord between ten pumps on average.

Plus the IV bags are harder to spike...I seriously think that the wrist problems I'm having on my right are at least partially attributed to this.

And forget about hanging blood, amiodarone, or Vanco...these cause it to hallucinate bubbles so badly that you want to wallop the pump with a whole box of Seroquel.

kitty13 · Jul 8, 2011

We use the Space pump and as another post said " careful priming is required" We also started priming each port w saline prior to the prime of the entire set. We reduced alarms at least 90%. We use with glass bottles and one of the reps taught us tricks to decrease bubbling. Blood no problem, just prime both sides of the y set with saline. This small pump fits right below our monitors. Nice way to eyeball the screens from one side.

The Baxter pump was familiar and we used it a long time but get over it those things were recalled many yrs ago. Whatever change is a constant.

kitty13 · Mar 6, 2012

Mama_d,

the space pump you refer to does have the option of having 3 port tubing. It is a choice made by your hospital what to order. We have 3 port tubing. I don't have issues with a glass vial, but i also close the vent when i hang a new bottle, then reopen it. We have no problems with air except when the patient comes from ED or the CVOR who do not prime the line correct.