About Infusion Pumps

Article Written By: Shannon Sarah19

Infusion pumps are ubiquitous in hospitals today, such standard medical equipment that most visitors and even patients find them unremarkable and generally take them for granted. People don?t usually even notice these pumps, whether they are working while hooked up as IV pumps or used in a smaller type of ambulatory pumps. But there is nothing standard or unremarkable about the vital work these medical devices perform. Infusion pumps have revolutionized medical treatments and intravenous therapy, saving countless numbers of lives, and making some procedures, like blood transfusions, possible. At one time, these procedures could only be imagined.

Infusion pumps are machines, usually electrically powered with built-in battery back-up, that infuse nutrients, medications and fluids into patients, either into their circulatory system, nervous system, or subcutaneously via a pumping action. These pumps have an amazing range of control over pressure, time, and amount of fluid dispensed. This is what makes these devices such a crucially necessary medical equipment.

For example, the infusion pumps can administer tiny doses of medication, far too small for a nurse or doctor to measure and dispense accurately, at regularly spaced intervals over any amount of time desired.

An infusion pump can also aid a patient in self-administering doses of medication, as in the case of patients recovering from major surgery who press a button to add something to their IV fluids as needed.

There are two basic types of infusion pumps: syringe pumps and volumetric pumps. Syringe pumps are extremely accurate, down the tiniest possible dosages, and are used when a low-flow rate is needed. Volumetric pumps are used to pump larger volumes of fluids, such as when hydrating and/or administering nutrition to a patient who cannot be fed by mouth.

Infusion pumps today come with a wide range of safety features built in to ensure that they operate properly, and that if they do fail in some manner, the patient will not be harmed. They also come with numerous alarms that sound for various reasons: if the lines get kinked, if the pump detects too much air in the line, if the battery is low. Also, they have security features that prevent unauthorized users from changing any information.

Infusion pumps are necessary medical equipment in almost every treatment offered by hospitals, including chemotherapy, nutrition, childbirth, anesthesia, diabetes treatment, and more.

About the Author

Sarah Shannon - Ambulatory Pumps. Find more information about Infusion Pump here.

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This Article Has Been Published on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 and Read 278 Times

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