New IV pumps

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

Our hospital just switched over to new IV pumps and they are driving us all insane! All day long, beep beep beep. They are WAY TOO SENSITIVE to air bubbles, they wont allow the secondary (piggybacks) to infuse even when you drop the primary bag, etc. You have to literally program what drug you are infusing....name, rate, amount, concentration of the drug, etc. I spent 30 minutes in a patient's room today trying to shut that pump up. I even unloaded it and switched to ANOTHER pump only to have the same problem. Even the company rep for the pump couldnt figure out what the problem was. Its wasting our time. I had to stay over almost an hour just to finish up my charting, med pass, etc because of all the time I spent programming and reprogramming those stupid IV pumps all day long. Dont you hate it when hospitals switch/upgrade to new equipment that is faulty! grrrrrrr

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

Are you talking about the "Plum" med-pumps?

cheers,

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

No, its the Sigma Spectrum Smart Infusion Pump. Its a tiny thing and I hate it. http://www.sigmapumps.com/sigma.html

[Jen911]

blehhhhhh... we have those pumps at one of the hospitals I work at, and I HATE HATE HATE them! They are the most user UNfriendly pumps I've ever used! Nothing is quick with those things! One tip of advice we've found is to hang it quite low on your pole, it seems to help with the beeping...yet doesn't help with programming. My pet peeve is that the buttons aren't backlit for the nightshifters to be able to see them in the dark, and they aren't placed where you'd expect them! We've had the pumps for probably a year now (or it feels like it), and we still hate them.

[michellezad]

Have your Sigma pumps improved with the beeping and alarms?

[Good Morning, Gil]

Aww....that really does stink. You guys need to tell your leadership team that they are not working. They need to be fixed for your sanity and work efficiency lol. Oh, and don't forget to mention patient satisfaction; that will get them fixed in a jiffy lol. Hopefully patients start complaining about them. I am kidding, though....our nurse manager is great, and I know if we all complained about something, then it would be addressed. Hoping you have a good manager.

We have the Alaris pumps, and I like them. Easy to use. Yeah, they do alarm sometimes, but usually for good reason. When it alarms occluded, the line's usually kinked.

Trained on Plum pumps in nursing school, and didn't find them as easy to use. Maybe it was just because I was learning, though.

[Good Morning, Gil]

Oh, that was a really old post.