SAN DIEGO and YORK, Pa., June 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ – WellSpan Health and CareFusion, a BD company (NYSE:BDX), today announced the successful implementation of the Alaris® System across all four WellSpan hospitals, with WellSpan York Hospital becoming the first hospital ever to simultaneously go-live with new infusion devices and bi-directional interoperability between the infusion device and the electronic health record (EHR).
Infusion device interoperability connects the health system's Alaris System smart infusion pumps with the hospital's EHR and is designed to help reduce the risk of harmful and costly intravenous (IV) medication programming errors at the patient bedside. The solution enables bi-directional communication between the infusion pump and the EHR for both syringe pumps and large volume infusions.
"WellSpan Health has been a leader in leveraging technology to promote patient safety," said Kris O'Shea, RN, MS, NEA-BC, vice president, Nursing Practice and Clinical Informatics, WellSpan Health. "Smart infusion pumps provide safety, but interoperability provides the next level of reliability. Not only does infusion pump integration to the EHR help improve patient safety, but it also documents all infusions back into the EHR, which saves a lot of time and administrative work for our nurses. And that is time that is invested back into direct patient care."
The Alaris System can be wirelessly pre-populated with infusion order parameters directly from the hospital's EHR. Instead of manually programming the pump using the keypad, the pump is pre-populated with the patient's medication order after scanning the barcodes on the patient's ID band, on the medication to be administered and on the smart pump. Automatically programming the pump with the patient's medication order from the verified physician order in the EHR helps ensure accurate IV medication administration and documentation, and reduces opportunities for human error.
With bi-directional communication, infusion data automatically flows back into the EHR, resulting in the programmed infusion order parameters being sent back into the patient's medical record in near real-time.1 Automated IV medication administration documentation from the Alaris System to the EHR gives health care providers more timely and accurate infusion data to aid in clinical decision-making.
The interoperability of smart medical devices and HIT systems has become critically important, as the ability to automatically capture and manage patient data plays an increasing role in improving patient safety, staff productivity and financial performance. Most importantly, the added safety and efficiency of the new systems at WellSpan Health allows nurses to focus more attention on what is most important for everyone—caring for the patient.
About WellSpan Health
WellSpan Health is a regional, comprehensive health system serving the communities of south central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland. The organization is comprised of a multispecialty medical group of more than 730 providers, a home care organization, four respected hospitals, more than 11,000 employees and more than 130 patient care locations. WellSpan's mission is to improve health by providing exceptional care for all, promoting lifelong wellness and fostering healthy communities.
About BD
BD is a global medical technology company that is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. BD leads in patient and health care worker safety and the technologies that enable medical research and clinical laboratories. The company provides innovative solutions that help advance medical research and genomics, enhance the diagnosis of infectious disease and cancer, improve medication management, promote infection prevention, equip surgical and interventional procedures, optimize respiratory care and support the management of diabetes. The company partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. BD has more than 45,000 associates across 50 countries who work in close collaboration with customers and partners to help enhance outcomes, lower health care delivery costs, increase efficiencies, improve health care safety and expand access to health.
For more information on BD, please visit bd.com.
