Hospital choosing new IV pumps....any advice or input would greatly appreciated!

Right now the two that we have been looking at are Alaris and the Sigma....What is your opinion? Do you currently use one that you absolutely love? If you use the pumps named above can you give some input about how well (or poor) they work?? Thanks in advance for your advice! Shirlee

[chloecatrn]

:heartbeat the Alaris pump. The library of meds allows you to program in patient weight, concentration, and med and have a double check of safe dose. I also like that the loading mechanism is very easy, even in the dark, even with your hands full.

[ZippyGBR, BSN, RN]

we use the alaris across the trust i work for , sadly the site i work on doesn't have the drip counter ones - the site i used to work at did and to be honest go for the drip counter ones everytime as they alarm as soon as the bag is empty rather than when they have pumped air all the way down to the pump fingers

[RNMeg]

My hospital uses Alaris as well, and they seem really easy to use. I'm a brand-new nurse (just finished my 3rd day on orientation) and I caught on really quickly. I like that you can program drugs in and it double-checks you if the dose or rate are out of the typical limits.

[Sonjailana]

We use sigma...it's not bad..if anything, overly sensitive (lots of false upstream occlusions). It has different beeps for different issues (low battery, etc)The library is nice, it has a nice lock feature. I wish it had more chemotherapy settings though.

[EMSnut45, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

LOVE-LOVE-LOVE the Alaris!! In critical care, the titration of drips is so easy on it. The drug library really decreases the chances of errors.

I just moved to a hospital that has REALLY OLD pumps, and it is taking a while to get used to it. I'd go back to the Alaris in a heartbeat-- it's the cadillac of IV pumps!!

[NeoPediRN]

I found the Alaris to be an excellent pump. It has guardrails to help prevent overdosing patients with high alert meds like heparin and insulin. It has the medication names and drug guides programmed right into it so you can really customize it for your patient. I also found it user friendly and easy to set up.

[silentRN]

I like the Alaris. been using it for 2 years. Never had a problem with it.

[shiccy]

We use Alaris as well. The ability to take channels from one patient that doesn't need 4 channels and putting it where its needed it awesome.

They're MUCH more intuitive than the older pumps we have (can't remember their names, but they're a gross looking blue color and look ancient, but come that way brand new!)

The ones that are horizontal are a little less intuitive, but are easily figured out, BUT they're not med-specific programmable, and they only have 1 IV infusion per pump.

[JamieLeeRN]

We use sigma...it's not bad..if anything, overly sensitive (lots of false upstream occlusions). It has different beeps for different issues (low battery, etc)The library is nice, it has a nice lock feature. I wish it had more chemotherapy settings though.

Yeah we use the Sigma Spectrum aka "Smart Pumps". I like them for the most part, it is nice to be able to run blood through them and everything, but they can be very sensitive, they can react to sometimes bubbles that aren't there, and the false upstream occlusions can drive you crazy lol. But for the most part I really like them.