Alaris pumps?

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How do you all feel about the Alaris pumps? Issues with channels falling off, air in line, channel errors?

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I've never had issues with Alaris. I love them! I'm sorry to hear that you are having issues.

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Never had a module fall off. Never heard of one installed properly falling off.

I will rarely have module errors, usually it is when initially setting up, just swap it out and problem solved.

Air in line, that is a PITA sometimes. Open the door, clean the mechanism, usually fixes it, but sometimes it is the tubing itself, so need to change that. I have changed tubing before and it still says it, end up swapping the module.

Alaris is all I have ever used, so don't know about other types.

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I like Alaris. As PP have stated the only thing that truly annoys me is the air in line warning with no air in the line. After changing tubing and trying different channels/pumps usually the issue is solved. Cleaning the mechanism has always worked for me too. Overall, I think they are pretty user friendly.

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They're OK. They are easy enough that I figured out how to use them enough to deliver IV fluids and secondaries without any instruction. The air-in-line is usually pretty easy to fix as long as your tubing is in the channel at the air sensor and is straight.

They have the worst godawful alarms, though.

I prefer the Plum pump, personally, so you don't have to worry about modules and your secondary has it's own pump so that you can run fluids concurrently with piggybacks. You do have to go get another pump if you need more than two lines.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

Alaris can handle 4 channels which is great also the ability to transfer channels to a different pc module when you move a pt ( our hospital ED techs are odd) it is also a oh&s reduction. I like that pca can be used on the pump as well.

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Specializes in ICU.

I love the Alaris pumps a lot... unfortunately, haven't seen them in real life since nursing school. :(

They're definitely better than the big giant Braun monsters I use at one job...

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg.

I like Alaris - a lot, but air-in-line alarms used to be the bane of my existence... "THERE's NO AIR IN THERE, SHUT UP AND STOP BEEPING YOU STUPID PUMP!!! GRRRR! DON'T YOU KNOW THIS IS LEVO AND IT NEEDS TO KEEP RUNNING??!!"

Then I actually bothered to take the time and learn exactly where the air-in-line sensor was located (it's at that little pinch point below the internal safety clamp). AHA!!

See image below, I pointed the arrow at the sensor.

Now EVERY time I get an air-in-line alarm I've found that there is at least some air (usually one little bubble) at that spot. Literally no false alarms, just seems overly sensitive I guess. But once I clear the air bubble through, everything is hunky dory again.

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I love Alaris pumps except for their overly sensitive air-in-line sensor. I never had a channel fall off. I like Hospira pumps too. What I use now is very, very rudimentary compared to them- SIGMA Spectrum by Baxter.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I like the Alaris pumps as well. The air in line thing can mean that the channel just went bad. Sometimes, opening up the channel and wiping an alcohol wipe along the thin plastic that the tubing lays across can solve the issue. I don't like the Plum pumps because the tubing is harder to prime.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

I'm NOT a fan of Alaris pumps. We were told they were so much better, quicker and easier to prime than our old pumps and that we'd have fewer nuisance alarms. Not true. If you prime the tubing too quickly you'll have air-in-line alarms until the cows come home. They're also very sensitive to the slightest kink in the tubing. The pulse delivery system means we cannot run anything through them into the same central line as any pressor, because we have such huge swings in BP... even if the Alaris is running in a different lumen. They take up a LOT of room on your pole. When you have a patient with 20 infusions, some via Alaris and some via syringe pump, your pole is extremely unstable. Oh and let's not forget the need to have no dependent loops in the tubing from your bag to the pump, or you'll have air-in-line alarms until the cows come home. Our pumps are a decade old and the doors don't always close properly, giving us those delightful ear-splitting alarms. So not a fan!

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I love Alaris! Make sure that there are no teeny-tiny bubbles, the alarm sensor is a tad sensitive.

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